“A new nation, conceived in Liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”
– Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1865
Langston Hughes was a prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement that promoted and championed African-American dramatic and visual arts between 1918 and 1937 (Hutchinson). He was instrumental in shaping the voice of black literature in America. He also was an ardent advocate of the civil rights movement in the United States. His writings addressed social injustices suffered by the blacks, celebrated black culture and identity, and advocated civil rights and social equality for all Americans. One of his most poignant poems is “I, Too”. Published in 1926 (Voigt), the poem stands as a declaration of resilience in the face of injustice. Using form, structure, diction, and literary devices, the poem criticizes the forced segregation of American blacks, explores universal themes of racial injustice, resilience, and belonging; and offers hope for a better future where black Americans would be recognized as equals to all Americans.
The title of the poem, “I, Too”, sets the poem up with a simple declaration of inclusion and belonging. The first line of the poem tells the reader where the speaker of the poem belongs. When he says, “I, too, sing America.” (Hughes, 1), he paints the image of a patriotic American proudly singing his national anthem. But, despite his proud declaration of his belonging, his country has marginalized him. His country does not seem to want him. By saying, “I am the darker brother. / They send me to eat in the kitchen / When company comes,” (Hughes, 2-4), he portrays a black man forced to be out of sight in the kitchen. He uses “darker” as a metaphor for poorly understood, for people not yet come to light with all their worth and beauty. Hughes uses the kitchen of the house as a metaphor for a place or status of segregation in America for black people. America itself is symbolized by the house that houses the kitchen. Despite being told to go away and be excluded, the speaker shows no anger or resentment. He says: “But I laugh, / And eat well, / And grow strong” (Hughes, 5-7). He sounds more amused than angered. The lines are short and separated by commas. Each line specifies one action of a plan: take it easy, nourish your mind, and grow intellectually. Hughes uses eating as a metaphor for gaining knowledge, to learn the ways and means of the land, to become stronger intellectually, and politically, and then devise a plan to resist and dismantle the injustice. He starts his poem with a powerful and suspenseful title, and then continues with vivid imagery, metaphors, and careful arrangement of words and lines to dedicate his first stanza to the problem of segregation in America, and to the exploration of his ideas of how to be resilient and resistant against the forces of segregation. He does not advocate violence. His prescription to resist and overcome the injustice is filled with dignity and intellect.
Hughes then offers hope for a better future. He says: “Tomorrow, / I’ll be at the table / When company comes.” (Hughes, 8-10). He uses table as a metaphor for a place of gathering, a place of merriment and feasting, and says that after “eat[ing] well” and “grow[ing] strong”, after developing his intellectual capacities and executing his plan, he will be at the table of the nation, keeping company with the rest of the nation, and “Nobody’ll dare” (Hughes, 11) send him into segregation.
At the end of the second stanza, Hughes uses a single-word on the last line: “Then.” (Hughes,14). Here, Hughes punches the time, and clocks in the change from segregation to inclusion, The use of the word “Then” works as a timeline element of demarcation that separates the now of the poem, which is segregation, from the “Tomorrow” of the poem, which will be inclusion. The word “Tomorrow” serves as metaphor for not only the future but also for hope, and dream. At the time of writing, it foreshadowed, unknowingly, of course, one of the most famous lines of the American civil rights movement. Years later, in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. said that he had “a dream that one day [the] nation [would] rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed” (King Jr.). Hughes’ message to the marginalized was the same. That they should not roll over and give up, that they should not wallow in self-pity; that they should be resilient and hopeful, educate themselves, devise a plan to turn the table, and sit at the table with everybody else. In the second stanza of the poem, he continues with his use of metaphors, imagery, word choice, and line arrangement to write about the hope of a better future, hope for a time when the gaining of knowledge and strengthening of the intellects would lead to an assertion of the black people as an integral part of the nation.
The remainder of the poem re-asserts and affirms the sense, and worth, of the identity of a black person. When he says, “They’ll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed— / I, too, am America.” (Hughes, 16-18), he deals with themes of equality and identity. With “I, too, am America.” (Hughes, 18), Hughes brings the poem full circle with a repetition of the principal words of his poem: “I, Too”, and “America”. He started with “I, too, sing America,” (Hughes, 1), which evoked the image of a patriot singing the national anthem of his country. After talking about segregation, after showing his resilience, and after his hopes and plans for the future, he says that he, too, is American, and will be counted as American – no longer a mere showpiece singer of the national anthem – he, now, is an integral part of the nation, for whom, the national anthem was written.
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Langston Hughes, by Winold Reiss. (AP Photo/National Portrait Gallery) |
In “I, Too”, Langston Hughes uses form, structure, diction, and literary devices to skillfully paint a picture of segregation of black people in the United States. He subtly criticizes the injustice suffered by the black people, and explores and establishes universal themes of racial injustice, resilience, and belonging. The poem is seemingly a criticism of treatment of blacks in the United States, but the themes and messages of the poem are universal and applicable to any time or place where a group of people is targeted, marginalized, and discounted out of a society. He offers hope for the future, advocates change through civil means of getting stronger intellectually, and expresses his belief that, in the future, black people will find their true place in the society, and will be valued on equal terms with every other American. It is amazing that what he predicted in this poem in 1926 has come to be a reality. The better future that he envisioned for black Americans has brought many black senators, congress persons, governors, and secretaries. Americans have had a black president. This astounding leap of achievements has been accomplished not through violent revolt but through civil participation in the political process at every level of government in the United States – just as Hughes had prescribed. Langston Hughes was a proud American. He would have been prouder today. It is just and befitting that the line "I, too, am America," (Hughes, 18) is engraved on the wall of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C (History.com). Rest in peace Mr. Hughes! Your dream is alive. You, too, shall live in our hearts and minds..
Works Cited
History.com Editors, Langston Hughes, History.com, January 24, 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/langston-hughes
Hughes, Langston, I, Too, The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, 1926, University of Missouri Press (BkMk Press), 2004, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47558/i-too
Hutchinson, George. Harlem Renaissance, Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Oct. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Harlem-Renaissance-American-literature-and-art. Accessed 29 October 2024.
King Jr., Martin Luther, 28 August 1963, Read Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech in its entirety, NPR. https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety
Lincoln, Abraham, 1865, The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/visit/whats-inside/exhibits/online-exhibits/gettysburg-address-everett-copy/, Accessed 29 October 2024.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1865, The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/visit/whats-inside/exhibits/online-exhibits/gettysburg-address-everett-copy/, Accessed 29 October 2024.
National Portrait Gallery, Langston Hughes Portrait by Winold Reiss Langston Hughes (1902–1967), National Portrait Gallery, https://npg.si.edu/learn/classroom-resource/langston-hughes-1902%E2%80%931967, Accessed 29 October 2024.
Voigt, Benjamin, Langston Hughes 101, Poetry Foundation, March 25, 2016, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/88972/langston-hughes-101
Unless specified, all images have been created using non-copyrighted, freely available tools of Microsoft Image Designer at https://designer.microsoft.com/image-creator
For more information about the life and works of Langston Hughes, visit
https://www.thoughtco.com/biography-of-langston-hughes-4779849
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/langston-hughes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hughes
