ANC 42: in that college..

159. "The instructor said,/Go home and write/a page tonight./And let that page come out of you,/Then, it will be true." The second line of this poem by Langston Hughes, "Theme for English B," goes on to ask: "I wonder if it's that simple?" We ask you here to write a truthful page about yourself, beginning where Hughes begins: "I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem./I went to school there, then Durham, then here/to this college on the hill above Harlem./I am the only colored student in my class." That is to say, each of us is at a certain stage of life and has a history. Each of us has lived somewhere and gone to school. We each are what we feel and see and hear, as the poem goes on to say. Begin there and see what happens. (University of Chicago)


I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.


Some mock, some laugh, and some criticize
the way God has presented me
and sent me to this beautiful but saddest campus.
All I do is smile back at them, hoping for the best.


I speak at debates, I play instruments, 
I listen to my teachers, I respect them, 
All of these carried out just by emulation,
by faith, by pride, by love in me. 


I fell, I got up by myself, but it was hard.

The next time I fell, it was harder.

The next time I fell, I couldn't do alone, 

but with a new friend's invaluable help. 

A friend's help is encouragement,

a fuel for my confidence,

doubling, tripling, and quadrupling

friends, supports, and happiness.

With precious moments God gave me, I now go

to this college on the hill above Harlem, where

I am the only colored student in my class, which

makes me exceptionally proud, happy, and special.