The student is trying to get his teacher to understand his point of view and what it is like to be the only colored student in a college class where all his classmates are white. The student was asked by his teacher to write a page that came out of him, which would make it be true. “And let that page come out of you- Then, it will be true.” (lines 4, 5) The student doesn’t believe that it’s just that easy, because what’s true for him as a twenty-two year old colored college student from Harlem, might not be the same true for his white teacher. The student then begins to speak about the things that he likes; which he realizes are things that others his age, despite race, probably like too. “I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like the same things other folks like who are other races.” (lines 25, 26)
This poem fits in with what Lamgston Hughes was trying to express about African Americans during his career for the reason that the point of view of the twenty-two year old colored college student, connected an individual's struggles with the struggle of an entire race. The poem was published during a time where segregation was an everyday struggle for many, and it demonstrated how an African American could relate or not relate to a white person. “Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true!” (lines 33-35) Langston Hughes made it clear that sometimes the teacher does not want to be a part of the