"You" vs. "Me"

The poem “Note on Commercial Theatre” by Langston Hughes presents the idea that the artistic works of African-Americans have been taken by white communities, while the original creators receive no acknowledgment
nor appreciation. Hughes largely builds on this idea through the use of the words “you” and “me”. In the first stanza and a little bit of the second stanza, almost every line contains the word “you” in it (“you” referring to white communities of theater). Additionally, the first and last line of the first stanza say, “You’ve taken my blues and gone – “. He shows how white communities have taken and changed music from African-American communities. Through this repetition of “you”, he shows the obvious placement of power in white communities and the idea that the music from the Harlem Renaissance now belonged to white communities and became theirs to use and change.

In most of the second stanza, however, Hughes begins to use “me” and eliminates the use of “you”. He says somebody will eventually “write about me – Black and beautiful.” This instills a sense of hope and belief that one day, credit will be restored in the African-American community, which largely contrasts the tone of despair and disappointment from the first half of the poem. This shift in word choice and perspective contributes to the hope that black identity will be able to shine through creative works and not cause the public to separate African-Americans from their own creations. By using “me,” Hughes also acknowledges himself and the African-American community, as well as their opinions, which is something that white communities avoided. This poem likely would’ve made white communities uncomfortable, but still created conversation about the issue.