The poem “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes portrays the Harlem Renaissance, and eventually, the Civil Rights Movement. The speaker is a young African American man attending University, a primarily white college. The beginning of the poem gives instructions for a homework assignment, and the rest of the poem is the theme response. This response shows the culture of New York City, and the primarily colored area known as Harlem. Despite this time of discrimination against colored people, the speaker takes pride in his home, and his color which is shown through the repetition in the poem. It also shows the process of finding oneself, in a country that was also at the time trying to find itself, and would go through a war to accomplish this. He uses his love for things such as food, sleep, learning, etc, that most people have a common love for, to show small but significant similarities in humanity. The United States, and especially New York are known for the experience of discovering oneself, and a chance at a better life. This “better life” had only begun to start for people of color through Hughes poetic words and contribution to the Harlem Renaissance, and essentially his contribution to American, and New York City culture. This poem shows the connection between the speaker and his older –and white- teacher in a time that this connection was not accepted by all. This connection is his idea of the “truth” the instructor asked for.