Summary

The story “Tales of Simple: Coffee Break” by Langston Hughes narrates the events of a work coffee break during which Simple has a talk with his white boss regarding African-Americans. The boss cannot understand what African-Americans in the USA want after they have already gained civil rights and have several political and social activists representing them. The boss generalizes and calls all African-Americans generically “The Negro”. Simple tries to explain to him that he is not part of this generalization; that he is himself and that there are many types of African-Americans in the USA. Then...