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--
I, too, am America.
Langston Hughes wrote this poem in 1926 as a response to Walt Whitman's 1881 poem I Hear America Singing, because he felt that the latter poem exalted the diverse voices that made up America, yet ignored a whole segment of the population.
Funny how some things never change...
Open thread below
