Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
For the purposes of this paper, I will juxtapose the work of Tupac Shakur with Langston Hughes in order to reveal Shakur’s engagement with African American literary history. Both Hughes and Shakur have recurring maternal relationships in their works. However, both artists incorporate these relationships very differently. Hughes primarily discussed mothers and children in order to show how far African Americans have come in gaining equal rights in their country. His mother-child relationships are ones that hope for continued steps towards equality and a breakdown of the black/white color line. Shakur, however, discusses children and mothers in the context of death, including miscarriage and infanticide. Though some cite Shakur’s use of these brutal subjects to accuse him of being a negative influence, I assert that Shakur uses these themes in order to invert the trope of African American motherhood. Shakur does this in order to illustrate the shift of American racism from overt, legal racism to more covert, systematic racism.
Copyright and Licensing of My Content
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Location
B114 JFSB
Start Date
19-3-2015 11:30 AM
End Date
19-3-2015 1:00 PM
Included in
A Holler to My Sisters on Welfare: Mothers in the Works of Shakur and Hughes
B114 JFSB
For the purposes of this paper, I will juxtapose the work of Tupac Shakur with Langston Hughes in order to reveal Shakur’s engagement with African American literary history. Both Hughes and Shakur have recurring maternal relationships in their works. However, both artists incorporate these relationships very differently. Hughes primarily discussed mothers and children in order to show how far African Americans have come in gaining equal rights in their country. His mother-child relationships are ones that hope for continued steps towards equality and a breakdown of the black/white color line. Shakur, however, discusses children and mothers in the context of death, including miscarriage and infanticide. Though some cite Shakur’s use of these brutal subjects to accuse him of being a negative influence, I assert that Shakur uses these themes in order to invert the trope of African American motherhood. Shakur does this in order to illustrate the shift of American racism from overt, legal racism to more covert, systematic racism.