{"id":141,"date":"2025-08-17T16:04:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T16:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/?page_id=141"},"modified":"2025-09-09T19:15:45","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T19:15:45","slug":"langston-hughes-i-too-1926","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/texts\/langston-hughes-i-too-1926\/","title":{"rendered":"Langston Hughes, \u201cI, Too\u201d (1926)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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INTRODUCTION<\/h3>\n
\n
\"Hughes\"<\/a>
Langston Hughes (Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Langston Hughes<\/a> (1901\u20131967) is best known as an intellectual leader of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement celebrating African American arts and literature that flourished in the Harlem section of Manhattan in New York in the 1920s and 1930s. Hughes was born in Missouri and spent time during his childhood in Lincoln, Illinois and in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 He traveled the world after high school, studying and holding various jobs.\u00a0 He published his first volume of poetry, The Weary Blues<\/em>, in 1926 before he had even graduated from college.\u00a0 This poem, “I, Too,” appeared in that volume from publisher, Alfred A. Knopf and created an immediate sensation.\u00a0 Hughes continued writing and traveling, publishing poetry, prose, fiction, and plays over the span of four decades.\u00a0 He is perhaps best known for his poem, “Harlem,” which appeared as part of collection entitled, Montage of a Dream Deferred<\/em> (1951) and later became the inspiration for a popular play and movie by Lorraine Hansberry: “A Raisin in the Sun.”\u00a0 Hughes died in 1967.<\/div>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

I, Too<\/h3>\n
\n

I, too, sing America.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am the darker brother.<\/span>
\nThey send me to eat in the kitchen<\/span>
\nWhen company comes,<\/span>
\nBut I laugh,<\/span>
\nAnd eat well,<\/span>
\nAnd grow strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tomorrow,<\/span>
\nI’ll be at the table<\/span>
\nWhen company comes.<\/span>
\nNobody’ll dare<\/span>
\nSay to me,<\/span>
\n\u201cEat in the kitchen,\u201d<\/span>
\nThen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Besides,<\/span>
\nThey’ll see how beautiful I am<\/span>
\nAnd be ashamed\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

I, too, am America.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION Langston Hughes (1901\u20131967) is best known as an intellectual leader of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement celebrating African American arts and literature that flourished in the Harlem section of Manhattan in New York in the 1920s and 1930s. Hughes was born in Missouri and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":258,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-141","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions\/627"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/fys-pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}