Discuss how "Cora Unashamed" reflects Hughes' desire to write "to, for, and about" black Americans. Be sure to use specific textual evidence from the story.

In the story "Cora Unashamed," Langston Hughes touches on the subject of the Black experience. He discusses how conditions are for African Americans at the turn of the century. Moreover, Hughes shows that, although slavery has been abolished, equality is far from being realized.

Hughes writes "to, for, and about" black Americans in various ways. First, he talks about an experience that would have been familiar to many African Americans at that time: that of working for a white family. Moreover, many people would have been able to identify with the treatment that Cora got ("She worked for the Studevants, who treated her like a dog") and with the love that she develops for the white child she takes care of ("But the child was hers - a living bridge between two worlds"). It is also a story written "for" African Americans, as Hughes shows them a role model worth admiring. Cora is passionate, brave and strong, as Hughes would wish all African Americans to be ("Cora was humble and shameless ... and she didn't care what the white people said").