I, Too, Am America

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"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

Hughes (1901-1967) was a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright and journalist, as well as a prominent leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He also translated the poetry of Frederico Garcia Lorca  and Gabriela Mistral.

This short summary simply does not give this artist his due -- Hughes is a monumental figure of 20th century American literature.

Bryan Collier

It took seven years for Collier's first book, Uptown, to find a publisher. But since its publication in 2000, Collier has been the recipient of four Caldecott Honors and nine Coretta Scott King Awards and Honors, as well as the recipient of the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Award. Collier's style includes sketching from photographs combined with water colors and collage.

---

Relevance

This short poem reflects Hughes's condemnation of racism and injustice, as well as reveals his deep cultural pride. More importantly, Hughes does not offer gratitude -- nor should he -- for the future fulfillment of equality in the pursuit of unalienable rights by "the darker brother." Often people who are part of a dominant culture are offended when they feel those of a subculture are not responding with gratitude -- this happens due to either an unconscious bias or overt racism.

And this is the salient point for including I, Too, Am America in the Harvest Reading Guide -- gratitude, thankfulness for the blessings in my life leads to health in so many ways, but it is nonsensical, at best, for me to expect others to be grateful I've 'shared' those blessings. This is a critically important lesson for all children to learn and why it is important to not reinforce the first Thanksgiving myths.

Learning Connections

• Langston Hughes’s Life in Historical Context, Langston Hughes Center, University of Kansas
• I, Too - Poem read by Langston Hughes, PoetryArchive.org
• Langston Hughes: Lesson Plans and Teaching Ideas, Varsity Tutors
• A Harlem Renaissance Retrospective: Connecting Art, Music, Dance, and Poetry, ReadWriteThink, NCTE - an excellent curriculum unit
• Traveling in Style and Comfort: The Pullman Sleeping Car, Smithsonian Magazine
• Pullman Porters, History.com
• American Creed: In Turbulent Times, What Ideals Do We All Share?, Facing History and Ourselves
  

Middle chapter book readers, picture books, poetry, 32 pages. Caldecott Honor artist Bryan Collier interprets Hughes's powerful poem with compelling illustrations of Pullman porters.