Editing I, Too

{{short description|1926 poem by Langston Hughes}}
[[File:I too by Langston Hughes.png|thumb |300px |alt=Only $500 for a first edition later printing on eBay | Originally known as "Epilogue"]] 

"'''I, Too'''" is a [[Poetry|poem]] written by [[Langston Hughes]] that shows a want for [[Racial equality|equality]] through patience whilst going against the idea that [[patriotism]] is limited by race. It was first published in Hughes' first volume of poetry, ''[[The Weary Blues (book)|The Weary Blues]]'' in 1926. This poem, along with other works by Hughes, helped define the [[Harlem Renaissance]], a period in the early 1920s and '30s of newfound [[cultural identity]] for blacks in America who had discovered the power of literature, art, music, and poetry as a means of personal and collective expression in the scope of [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harlem-renaissance|title=Harlem Renaissance|last1=History.com Staff|website=History|publisher=A + E Networks|accessdate=2019-02-20}}</ref>

In the poem, Hughes describes a ubiquitous racial oppression that degrades [[African Americans]] from their proper place. He writes from the perspective of the "darker brother" to a domineering family that shoos him away to the kitchen whenever company arrives.

Hughes ties together the sense of the unity that U.S. President [[Abraham Lincoln]] spoke about regarding the separate and diverse parts of the American democracy (the coexistence of slavery and freedom) by referencing [[Walt Whitman]]'s poem  "I Hear America Singing".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/what-langston-hughes-powerful-poem-i-too-americas-past-present-180960552/|title=What Langston Hughes' Powerful Poem "I, Too" Tells Us About America's Past and Present|last=Ward|first=David C.|date=September 22, 2016|website=Smithsonian|language=en|access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref>

Lines from this poem are engraved on the exterior walls of the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name=":0" />

{{poem quote|
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,{{mdash}}

I, too, am America.}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|The Weary Blues/Epilogue|I, Too}}
* [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47558/i-too "I, Too" by Langston Hughes] from the [[Poetry Foundation]].

{{Langston Hughes}}

[[Category:Poetry by Langston Hughes]]