As a poet who paved the way for the flourishing of African-American artists in a white-dominated world, Langston Hughes changed the face of writers during the Harlem era Renaissance. Hughes is the descendant of a mixed race and background, but is considered the father of the "New Negro Movement". His best-known literary piece, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” written in 1926, still applies to the young and old of blacks in America. As a young black woman in 21st century America, she has come to realize that not much has changed regarding the plight of “niggers” in America. William Pickens said, “The new Negro is not really new; he is the same Negro in new conditions and subject to new demands” (79). This quote states that the Negro is neither new nor old but continually evolving based on new situations and difficulties. “The Negro Artists and the Racial Mountain” supports the claim that Black Americans are continually scrutinized for assimilating into Western culture, but are praised for embracing Pan-Africanism. Hughes was an integral part of the cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. He had been drawn to New York City because of the changes that were about to occur. In “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Hughes portrays the Negro middle class as the “respected people” who are complacent (Hughes). This type of Negro lives a comfortable life where the children attend a coeducational school. Hughes especially attacks this middle class family because he believes they would rather be Caucasian than African American (Hughes). The high-class Negro separates himself from the poorer blacks because he reads white magazines and strives to get half the paper. It highlights the roles of blacks and the different types of "niggers" such as the "northern nigger" and the "old nigger". Locke stated that “The American mind must reckon with a fundamentally changed Negro” (115). Intelligent and socially aware, the New Negro identity is constantly pressured and closely watched by society. New Negro culture should extend beyond Harlem, New York. It should reach into the mountains and valleys and touch all people, because America was built on the backs of slaves and American history is also African-American history. The racial mountain that stands before every person who considers themselves black is history. Instead of assimilating into white culture, Hughes claims to build black culture from what remains. The racial mountain must be climbed and conquered to advance as a people in society.