Thank You, M'am

“Thank You, M’am” is a 1958 short story by African American writer Langston Hughes, the figure perhaps most strongly associated with the Harlem Renaissance. This movement, which developed in 1920s and ’30s New York, witnessed the rise of a new generation of artists and intellectuals rooted in and speaking about black culture, identity, and history. For Hughes, who rose to prominence as a poet, this often meant working to capture the rhythms and patterns of traditionally black musical genres (e.g., the blues, spirituals, jazz). At other times, Hughes hearkened back to the mostly white literary tradition exemplified by writers like Walt Whitman, seeking to adapt their celebration of the American ethos to the black experience.

“Thank You, M’am” belongs to a different genre and era than Hughes’ best-known work but nevertheless has much in common with his earlier writings. Although Hughes never explicitly states that the characters are black, certain elements of the story are unique to the African American experience. The unnamed neighborhood in which the story takes place is most likely Harlem, which provides important historical context for Roger’s implied poverty; the neighborhood was devastated by the Great Depression and struggled to fully recover even in the prosperous years following World War II.