The purposes of this study were to document the Selfethnic liberatory adult education nature and goals of Hughes' poetry (published between 1921 and 1933), and to document the impact this poetry had on the history of the field. In addition, the goal was to expand the historical knowledge base of the field.

This study addressed the problem that the historical, philosophical and intellectual literature of the field does not, to any significant degree, include the contributions of African American adult educators. This exclusion has been addressed to some degree in recent years, but given that this group has both created and participated in adult education activities since 1619, the depth and breadth of these contributions are still under documented in the historical texts of the field (Colin, 1989; McGee & Neufeldt, 1985; Johnson-Bailey, 2002). This gap in the literature renders the history incomplete and is not reflective of the rich diversity that this group has contributed to the field.

Framed within an African Centered Historical Paradigm, (Asante, 1990; 1996; and 1997), this viewpoint grounds the study in African Centered values, ideas and ideals which allowed this researcher and other researchers to conduct research by putting these at the center of the study. The units of analysis for the study were the Theories of Selfethnic Reflectors (Colin, 1989) and Selfethnic Liberatory Adult Education (Colin, 1998). Selected poems were analyzed using the concepts embedded within these theories. Results of analysis revealed the poems contained these conceptual elements.

The results of the data analysis showed that each literary piece contained these conceptual elements. For example, Hughes addressed the negative impact factors of sociocultural and intellectual racism in many of these poems. Addressing the negative impact factors of racism is a conceptual element embedded in the Theory of Selfethnic Reflectors. Further, this study provided a new meaning construct for using literary art as a specific subject matter to be used in Selfethnic Liberatory adult education programs, providing a new meaning construct for the development the Metatheory of Selfethnic Liberatory Literary Adult Education.