Brotherly Love

Brotherly Love - context Summary

Composed Amid Boycott

Langston Hughes addresses white Southerners during the Montgomery Bus Boycott era, urging racial reconciliation through nonviolent love while refusing submissive accommodation. The poem balances moral appeal—referencing Reverend King and Christian duty—with blunt challenge to ongoing racism and humiliation. Hughes stages a direct, communal voice that both offers forgiveness and asserts dignity, ending with a defiant commitment to love that will not tolerate continued oppression.

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A Little Letter to the White Citizens of the South In line of what my folks say in Montgomery, In line of what they’re teaching about love, When I reach out my hand, will you take it Or cut it off and leave a nub above? If I found it in my heart to love you, And if I thought I really could, If I said “Brother, I forgive you,” I wonder, would it do any good? So long, so long a time you’ve been calling Me all kinds of names, pushing me down – I been swimming with my head deep under water, And you wished I would stay under until I drown. But I didn’t! I’m still swimming! Now you’re mad Because I won’t ride in the back end of your bus. When I answer, “Anyhow, I’m gonna love you,” Still and yet, you want to make a fuss. Now listen, white folks! In line with Reverend King down in Montgomery – Also because the Bible says I must – I’m gonna love you – yes I will! Or BUST!

Dr. King and Langston Hughes maintained a friendship for years. Hughes wrote this poem in 1956 during the 13-month Montgomery bus boycott. Day after day, Negroes walked miles to work instead of riding the buses, and Dr. King first emerged as a leading force in the civil rights movement.