Langston Hughes

I, Too, Sing America

I, Too, Sing America - meaning Summary

Claiming Equal Belonging

The poem presents a Black speaker who is excluded from the American table but refuses humiliation. He endures being sent "to eat in the kitchen," grows stronger, and predicts a future when he will sit at the table and others will feel ashamed. The closing assertion, "I, too, am America," insists on equal belonging and dignity, turning personal experience of racial exclusion into a confident claim for national inclusion.

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I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, "Eat in the kitchen," Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed-- I, too, am America.

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