"But this is the mountain standing in the way of any true Negro art in America" (1).
The central metaphor of "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" is the mountain itself, or the obstacle that stands in the way of Black artists creating what Hughes sees as fundamentally Black art. This mountain denotes the pressure put on Black communities—from white people as well as upper-class Black citizens—to aspire to whiteness and to value white culture and artistic expression above all else. To summit this "mountain," Hughes argues that Black artists must create art in the same mode as jazz music: with joy, without shame, and in celebration of Blackness itself.
"And the Negro dancers who will dance like flame and the singers who will continue to carry our songs to all who listen—they will be with us in even greater numbers tomorrow" (10).
Hughes compares Black dancers to fire in order to convey a sense of the vibrancy and vitality inherent to Black art. He couples this simile with a prophecy in the future tense, imagining that these distinctly Black artists and performers will only continue to grow in number. Thus, the reference to fire suggests endurance and strength within Black culture, despite the "racial mountain" that challenges Black artists.
