ancient as the world nbsp This means that the Black race is not new or separate It has existed from the beginning of human life By talking about the Euphrates Congo Nile and Mississippi Hughes connects African-American people with the earliest civilizations of the world nbsp He says he bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young He also built a hut near the Congo River and the river sang him to sleep These lines show that the Black race has a long and peaceful past The black race was full of culture and life This is important because African-Americans were often treated as if they had no history Hughes corrects that false idea by showing that their story is as old as these ancient rivers themselves These rivers have been there long before human civilization began on the earth nbsp Slavery and Struggle on the Mississippi River African-American history also includes a long period of slavery Hughes brings this into the poem through the Mississippi River He says he heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abraham Lincoln traveled to New Orleans This river was one of the main places where slaves were bought and sold nbsp Hughes writes that the river s nbsp Muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset nbsp This shows a moment of hope The muddy river stands for the dark history of slavery but the golden light suggests hope for freedom Through this river Hughes connects African-American suffering with their strong desire for liberation The Mississippi becomes a witness to their pain and their dreams nbsp Black Survival and Emotional Pain in The Weary Blues While The Negro Speaks of Rivers speaks about ancient and historical memory The Weary Blues shows the emotional pain of African-Americans in modern America The lonely singer on Lenox Avenue represents a man who has inherited centuries of sadness His music called the Weary Blues comes straight from his soul nbsp He sings lines like nbsp Ain t got nobody in all this world nbsp It shows deep loneliness born from racial oppression Through this blues song Hughes shows that the historical suffering revealed in The Negro Speaks of Rivers continues in the present world nbsp Hope and Future Strength in I Too Alongside pain and history Hughes also writes about hope In I Too Sing America the speaker is a Black man who is treated unfairly He is sent to eat in the kitchen when guests come But he does not stay sad He says that tomorrow he will sit at the table and that nobody will dare stop him He says nbsp I too am America nbsp This shows that the black people are also Americans Even after suffering and humiliation the Black voice remains strong nbsp Deep Soul and Unbroken History In The Negro Speaks of Rivers Hughes repeats nbsp My soul has grown deep like the rivers nbsp This line is important Because it shows that African-American history has made the soul of the race deep wise and full of memory The rivers carry stories of joy suffering slavery freedom and hope Hughes suggests that these memories live inside every Black person nbsp Through poems like The Negro Speaks of Rivers The Weary Blues and I Too Langston Hughes tells the long and powerful story of African-American history He shows the ancient past the pain of slavery and the emotional struggle of modern life He also shows a strong hope for equality His poems teach us that Black history is deep old and full of strength