Langston Hughes writes a poem reflecting on an assignment from his instructor to write a page about himself. The poem describes Hughes as a 22-year-old black student from Winston-Salem attending a predominantly white college in Harlem. It explores his identity and how, though different in some ways from his white instructor and classmates, they are also connected and can learn from each other. The poem uses repetition of words and rhyme to convey Hughes' conflicting feelings of belonging and separation due to his race in a still-segregated America.