I, Too​ (LANGSTON HUGHES)

I, too, sing America. (​sing but doesn’t BELONG)

( i’m also an american)- this makes it more explicit and more poetic.

I am the darker brother. ​( he’s talking about the whole country, america in
comparison with the household
They send me to eat in the kitchen​ ( normally, they’d eat together)( he’s not allow to
eat tgt w the family cause he’s dark.)( he doesn't care) (METAPHOR)
When company comes,​ ( when they’ve visitors in the house, they don’t want the dark
brother to be seen by the visitors)
But I laugh, ​( because discrimination has been so long in america)
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow, ​( the future)

I’ll be at the table ​(will= certainty)
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,” ​(deny)(signify everything that they are not allowed to do)
Then. ​(after he grew stronger)
(he’s hoping that one day nobody would dare to discriminate him)
( they’ll be protected by law )
Only when they’re protected by law, they’ll be safe.
His hope had come true in some way.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am ​(they’ll see the good in him , they admire, only when
you appreciate,value, and like for what he is)
And be ashamed-- ​(what they did before)( leave it hanging for the audience to think)

I, too, am America.
Start and end with both single line stanza.
I,Too

This poem portrays the American racism as experienced by a black man. The
speaker asserts that he’s just as much a part of american as the white people, and
soon the rest of the people, the country will acknowledge the beauty and strength of
the black people.

[I also am part of America.

I am a black member of the American family. They tell me I have to eat alone in the
kitchen when they have people over for dinner. But I laugh at their hypocrisy, and eat
heartily in order to grow stronger.
In the future, I will sit at the table when they have people over for dinner. No one will
dare to tell me that I have to eat alone in the kitchen then.
And anyway, they’ll see that I’m beautiful then and they’ll feel ashamed of
themselves.
I also am American.]

The speaker wails the way he’s excluded from the american society.
The speaker argues that the black people have preserved through the injustice of
racism and segregation ​by developing a vibrant, beautiful, and independent cultural
tradition, a cultural tradition so powerful that it will eventually compel white society to
recognize black contributions to American life and history.

https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/langston-hughes/i-too