What is it to be black? What is it to be white? Why are so many people looking to fit under a color's stereotype? To be born black is no longer the only factor or standard of "blackness." Langston Hughes is a highly celebrated and commended author of the Harlem Renaissance. In his essay, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain," he addresses the mental state of one "Negro" artist wishing to be known as a poet, but not as a black one. Hughes takes this as saying that this man is trying to be and subconsciously wants to be white. In this I can agree. Langston tells of the subconscious effect on blacks, the different standards of blackness versus whiteness, and what is perceived to be a Negro artist in America.
             In America we have this idea of black being something negative, while people with white skin are deemed to be "better." In the essay, Hughes speaks of a middle class household of a young poet. The poet's mother would say things like, "don't be like niggers," when all the children were not behaving properly. The father saying, "look at how well a white man does things," cementing this subconscious attitude of white is right and black is bad into the minds of his offspring; thus, creating a cycle. They are subconsciously telling themselves that it is better to be Nordic than ethnic.
             There are said differences within the conflict of standards between blackness and whiteness. Whites are seen to be landowners, politicians, and attorneys, while blacks are expected to be "less than." When blacks obtain this status of "whiteness," they tend to look down upon the distinct identity of their own people. Langston Hughes illustrates this with his example of the fashionable church where upper class Negroes would rather worship "correctly and quietly [like dull Nordics,]" than shout and sing old Negro hymns.
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