I, Too

by Langston Hughes

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.

“I, Too” from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, © 1994 by the Estate of Langston Hughes – Knopf and Vintage Books

Who was Langston Hughes?

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

was born on February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri; he was an American poet-author-playwright, a social activist, novelist, and columnist; and a major figure in New York’s Harlem Renaissance