"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" Reflection

Langston Hughes “The Negro Speaks of Rivers" is a piece of Harlem Renaissance. In the poem he talks about different rivers he has been to over the course of history. He says that he has “known rivers ancient as the world and older that the flow of human blood in human veins”. He also says that he “looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it”. Considering the fact that he talks about things that he wouldn’t have known because of his age, and that all of the rivers that he talks about, except the Mississippi, are in Africa, I’d say that it is safe to say he is referring to all African-Americans and their ancestors when he talks about himself.