I, TOO, SING AMERICA with a Little History of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes lived in Harlem 1928-1930 and was an important voice during the Harlem Renaissance. 

When he expressed interest in the principles of social equality of communism, he was investigated by Senator McCarthy's Committee during the communist scare of the 1950s.  

(Please remember that McCarthy was known for ignoring due process of law and investigated or intimidated a lot of people)  

By the 1960s Hughes was recognized for his literary contributions and was named cultural representative to Europe and Africa for the US State Department, travelling around Europe, China, Japan, Russia and Western Africa. 

According Legacy: Treasures of Black History edited by Thomas C Battle, Hughes was robbed of his papers and money after falling asleep on the train from Genoa, Italy to Paris, France.  When he tried to get a job on a freighter to return to the US he was refused work, watching white sailors get jobs instead. Discouraged, he wrote I, Too, Sing America on the back of a letter to Alain Locke

Hughes finally returned on a steamer with an all-black crew in exchange for passage with no pay, and his poem was published in 1925 

 

photo from NPR.org

photo from operationhope.org

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.