I Too Sing America And Still I Rise

Although published over thirty years apart, the poems “I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes and “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou both address racial issues. Hughes published his poem in 1945 when racial segregation was still common place, and Jim Crow laws were still in effect. Meanwhile Angelou’s poem was published a generation later in 1978 when Jim Crow laws had been overturned but racial tensions were still high. Although both poems are about the plight of black people in America, their messages reflect the hopes and dreams of their times.
The first part of Hughes’ poem addresses slavery and its legacy in America. He writes, “They send me to eat in the kitchen.” The slaves were not allowed to eat at the table with the white slave owners