Langston Hughes's Poem 'I, Too, Sing America'

“I, Too” by Langston Hughes is a lyric poem. He wrote this poem in free verse. Hughes repeats the words “and”, “when” and “I” in his poem. When writing, Hughes uses simple words so that it is easier for the illiterate to understand what he is saying. The title of “I, too, sing America” is an allusion to Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing” His poem focuses on the dream of making it to the next step in life and hope that equality in America will come one day. It is written to reflect on the common African Americans during this time. Hughes experienced discrimination first hand in school when his grandmother sent him to an all white school. The poem was written 1926 just years before the civil rights movement began. Being written in this time means it was written during the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was the start to popular jazz and african american literature. The poem is very intriguing because it has a sense of hope for the future and the change that needed to happen.
In the first stanza, Hughes says “I, too, sing America.” Hughes uses the word “too” to
“I am the darker brother” is a key line in this poem. Darker brother puts the focus on African Americans in the poem. When someone writes or says brother it normally relates to family or a really close friend. Hughes is saying that we all live in America and that connection makes us family. Hughes is trying to get people to realizes what is happening to the blacks who help some get to where they were because of the past. He gives an example in they send me to the kitchen. They people blacks worked for are embarrassed by the fact they had blacks in their house even if the blacks are their servants. Hughes continues to write but I laugh, he could be meaning that the blacks are confused on why whites are ashamed to have blacks in the house but they are still caring enough to feed and allow blacks to grow