Slave on the Block | Essays and Criticism

  • White Ways and Black Souls

    Sarah Madsen Hardy holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature. In the following essay, she analyzes Hughes’s choice to focus on white characters in ‘‘Slave on the Block.’’

  • The Theme of Unintended, or Benign Racism

    Mowery has a doctorate in rhetoric/composition and literature from Southern Illinois University. He has taught there and Murray State University. In the following essay he examines the theme of unintended, or ‘‘benign’’ racism.

  • Langston Hughes

    Bone is an American critic and educator who specializes in African-American literature as well as Shakespeare. In the excerpt below, he gives an analysis of Hughes’s short fiction.

  • Langston Hughes: The Blues I'm Playing

    In the following excerpt from a longer essay, Bruck provides a social, literary, and historical perspective on Hughes’s short fiction, concentrating on the collection The Ways of White Folks.

  • Four Short Fiction Writers of the Harlem Renaissance—Their Legacy of Achievement

    Turpin was an American novelist, dramatist, and editor. In the excerpt below, he presents ‘‘Slave on the Block’’ as an example of Hughes’s successful use of satire.