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Hughes released several autobiographical volumes during his lifetime. One of these, The Big Sea, published in 1963, explores the era during which this poem was written and delves into the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s.
In collaboration with Milton Meltzer and C. Eric Lincoln, Hughes authored the 1956 book A Pictorial History of the Negro in America, which was reissued in 1983 as A Pictorial History of Black Americans. The photographs in this book vividly capture the era's atmosphere. For example, readers can observe segregated "Colored" facilities at locations such as restaurants, movie balconies, and parking lots. Hughes's writing reflects the tone of a moderate intellectual growing increasingly impatient.
The title of Lorraine Hansberry's acclaimed 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun is derived from this poem. The play, which was the first by an African American woman to be performed on Broadway, addresses nearly every issue faced by African Americans in the 1950s.
Aldron Morris's 1984 book The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for a Change is among the most extensive and well-documented studies of the grassroots organizations that unified black citizens to combat institutionalized segregation.
The Shaping of Black America by Lerone Bennett, Jr., initially published in 1975 and revised in 1991, continues to be a valuable resource, offering a concise yet insightful overview of the subject.
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