Summary:

The speaker claims that he, too, sings America. He is the “darker brother” who is
sent to eat in the kitchen when there are guests visiting. However, he does laugh
and he eats well and grows bigger and stronger. Tomorrow, he will sit at the table
when the guests come, and no one will dare to tell him to eat in the kitchen. They
will see his beauty and be ashamed, for, as he claims, “I, too, am America.”

Analysis:
The poem “I, Too” is also known as “I, Too, Sing America,” and was initially titled
“Epilogue” when it appeared in The Weary Blues, the 1926 volume of Langston
Hughes's poetry. It has been anthologized repeatedly and scholars have written
about it many times. It is written in free verse and features short lines and simple
language.
Hughes wrote "I, Too" from the perspective of an African American man - either a
slave, a free man in the Jim Crow South, or even a domestic servant. The lack of
a concrete identity or historical context does not mitigate the poem’s message; in
fact, it confers on it a high degree of universality, for the situation Hughes
describes in the poem reflects a common experience for many African Americans
during his time.

The speaker begins by declaring that he too can “sing America,” meaning that he
is claiming his right to feel patriotic towards America, even though he is the
“darker” brother who cannot sit at the table and must eat in the kitchen. This
alludes to the common practice of racial segregation during the early 20th
century, when African Americans faced discrimination in nearly every aspect of
their lives. They were forced to live, work, eat and travel separately from their
white counterparts, had few civil or legal rights, were often victims of racial
violence, and faced economic marginalization in both the North and the South.
One critic identifies the opening lines of the poem as illustrative of W.E.B.
DuBois’s theory of “double-consciousness":

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always

looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by
the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever
feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two
unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged
strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
The speaker does not languish in despair, however. He proclaims that
"tomorrow" he will join the others at the table and no one will dare send him back
to the kitchen. Not only that, but the "others" will see “how beautiful” the speaker
is and will therefore feel ashamed. This statement is extremely hopeful and
optimistic. The speaker demonstrates a heightened sense of self and proclaims
his ambition to assert his legitimacy as a an American citizen and as a man.

The invocation of America is important, for Hughes is expressing his belief that
African Americans are a valuable part of the country's population and that he
foresees a racially equal society in the near future. Many critics believe that "I,
Too" is an unofficial response to the great poet Walt Whitman’s poem, “I Hear
America Singing.” This is likely given Hughes’s expressed affinity for Whitman's
work, as well as the similarity between the titles and choice of words. In
Whitman’s poem, a variety of Americans - including a mechanic, carpenter,
boatman, and mother - sing joyfully about America. Hughes suggests that even
though the circumstances are different for African Americans, they also deserve
to experience patriotism.

2ND ANALYSIS

Langston Hughes and I, Too

I, Too is a short, free verse poem that focuses on African American identity within the
dominant white culture of the USA. It encapsulates the history of oppression of black
people by means of slavery, denial of rights and inequality.
Inspired by Walt Whitman's 'I Sing the Body Electric', Hughes must have intended the
poem's first line as a contrasting clarion call - the black person is worthy to be an
American too, to sing of the country that they help build.
The poem's first person male speaker could be young or old but is sending out the still
relevant message of hope for change. By placing the speaker in a house,
metaphorically the USA, Hughes brings the issue of black rights into the personal
domestic space of the American people.
This connects directly back to Abraham Lincoln, the American civil war and the role of
African American slaves in the great houses of plantation owners. Lincoln himself said
that: 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'
So when this poem was first published in the book The Weary Blues in 1926, Langston
Hughes hit a still raw nerve which helped open up the thorny issue of civil rights.
He wrote: 'I am a Negro/ Black as the night is black,/ Black like the depths of my Africa.
The young black poet at 24 years old would shine in a pivotal role in what became
known as the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural explosion in New York, a vibrant
expression of black creativity and identity which included music, art and poetry.
I, Too is seen as one of the poems that transformed and informed thinking in
mainstream society at the time and is still enjoyed today.

I, Too
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.

Analysis of I, Too
I, Too is a free verse poem of 18 short lines, made up of 5 stanzas. There is no rhyme
scheme and the meter (metre in British English) varies from line to line.
This poem has an informal, modern look on the page, despite it being nearly one
hundred years old. The short lines, some with only one word, send a message of
deliberate, direct speech - the speaker is addressing an audience, or replying to a
rhetorical question.
• That separate first line is a personal statement which echoes the titles from Walt Whitman's
poems 'I Sing a Body Electric' and also 'I Hear America Singing'.
• The speaker is adding his defiant, strong, individual voice to that of the collective, just in
case anyone doubts his intention.
The second line is also a complete sentence, a declaration of difference. Here is the
voice of a black male, different yes, but still related, still a brother. Is that a brother to all
men, black and white? It isn't clear.
The next five lines sum up the speaker's life in the present time. Apart from the
enjambment between the second and third lines, each line is punctuated, so there are
pauses for the reader, a second in which to digest the meaning.
He is sent to the kitchen to eat his food for some reason but it doesn't seem to bother
him that much.
Just who are 'They' - the people who send the speaker out to eat in the kitchen? These
must be the white house owners, those with power, who do not want the dark-skinned
man around when their friends or family come to visit.
They fear that he might cause something terrible to happen. They don't want to mingle
with his type. He may appear to be a subservient type, but he is biding his time.
To his credit he sees through their false, social conventions. He's happy enough and
has a healthy appetite which helps him cope with the apartheid. And the seventh
line...And grow strong... suggests that the status quo cannot last.
• This speaker is thinking about the future, not necessarily the immediate 24 hour future but
a time when he and his darker brethren will not be subject to humiliation or condemned to
retreat into the kitchen.
He'll be at the table, that is, he'll have his own space and opportunity to partake of the
feast that is America's bounty. He won't be told to 'Eat in the kitchen' any longer
because times will be different, the culture will be changed and those who dictate to him
now will see him in a different light.
These same people who treated him with such cruelty and disdain will then conclude
that they were wrong. They'll regret their previous actions.
The last line is a parallel with the opening one and reinforces the idea of the speaker
fully integrated - now he is America. No longer excluded, no longer a problem but a
solution, no longer a human divided but a whole person totally identified as American.