I, Too

“I, Too” represents a pivotal expression of the African American experience not only in the early 20th century, but into contemporary times. More than anything, the poem is a cry for empathy, equality, and respect. The poem does not beg for these things; instead, it asserts confidence and strength through use of the future tense, powerful imagery, and an uncompromising voice. This mixture of recognizing inequity while also asserting pride and determination encapsulates the long, difficult history Black people have had in America.

Hughes opens the poem with the line “I, too, sing America” (Line 1). This line, while short and seemingly simple, is quite complex. The first thing to note is the adverb “too.” Here, “too” means in addition to or also. The use of the word might seem strange in the opening line since the poem has not had the chance to introduce anybody else singing. But the word is actually referencing two things. First, the word asserts the agency of the Black voice in America. During Hughes’s time and for much of American history, America has suppressed Black voices in art, politics, and in society. By opening with an assertion, Hughes is demanding his place at the table of American society, saying he has a voice just like all of the non-Black people whom the country has always recognized.

But the word “too” is doing more work than just that. Combined with the phrase “sing America” that follows, Hughes is making a literary allusion to a famous poem by American poet Walt Whitman called “I Hear America Singing” (1860). Only 60 years removed from the poem and the Civil War, Hughes writes “I, Too” as a response to Whitman’s poem, which celebrated the “music” of America. In Whitman’s poem, the music is the sounds present in everyday American life, specifically the sounds of working-class people. Whitman’s poem does not recognize the “music” of Black people. By alluding to Whitman’s poem, Hughes addresses the historical erasing of the Black community in American society.

Hughes writes “I, Too” with proper grammar. In the first line, the lack of a comma after “sing” and preceding “America” adds complexity. Technically, the speaker is addressing America as if the country were a person. Because of this, the line should read “I, too, sing, America.” If Hughes had used a comma before “sing,” he would have made it clear that the speaker is speaking to America: The comma would have set “America” on its own, indicating a direct address. By not putting the comma there, the line takes on a new meaning. America now acts as a direct object. The speaker is singing America, as if it’s a song. This syntax brings to mind the phrase “sing something’s/someone’s praises,” which means to glorify or speak highly of something or someone. It’s almost as if Hughes is singing America’s praises, odd considering this poem, on its surface, criticizes America.

But the seemingly strange construction makes sense when considering the last line of the poem. By the end of the poem, the speaker confidently asserts that he is America. And throughout the poem, the speaker explains how strong and beautiful he is. So even though the speaker criticizes the treatment of the “darker brother” (Line 2), he also takes pride in the role he plays in America and in his identification as an American. This further aligns the poem with Whitman, turning it into something like an amendment to Whitman’s poem praising the “music” of America. This makes more sense than a criticism of Whitman, as Whitman was Hughes’s favorite poet.

This poem is more than just its first and last lines. The middle of the poem uses an extended metaphor to portray the treatment of African Americans. To Hughes, Black people are the brothers of non-Black Americans. However, just being family to the rest of America does not guarantee proper treatment. The speaker says “they” send him away when company comes, which suggests shame and unequal treatment above all else. Americans know and recognize Black people, but they are ashamed of their blackness and try to hide them rather than be open about their brotherhood and shared humanity. This symbolizes America’s attempts to oppress Black people during and after slavery. Clearly, white Americans depended upon and needed Black people, but they could not bring themselves to share the wealth of the table with them or even sit at the same table with them.

The speaker does not use this history to make himself a victim; instead, this lack of respect and this slight fuel the speaker’s sense of purpose and determination. Instead of moping at the mistreatment, the speaker says it makes him stronger and allows him the opportunity to strengthen himself for what is to come.

The speaker is able to do this because he knows “Tomorrow, / I’ll be at the table” (Lines 8-9). The future will be bright. Here, Hughes is referring to the continued resilience and progress Black Americans had made from the end of slavery to the 1920s. Even in the face of slavery, Jim Crow, and all the other atrocities white people committed against Black people, the African American community remained strong, survived, and eventually won victory after victory in the fight for equality and justice. Hughes sees that progress continuing. He knows the future for Black people will be bright because he has seen his community endure the most oppressive and unfair treatment of any group of people up to that point in history.

Finally, Hughes adds one more assertion near the poem’s conclusion. He shifts from how powerful he is to how beautiful he is. This message of affirmation yet again celebrates the achievements and resilience of the Black community. Hughes was steeped in the culture of the Harlem Renaissance, so he knew firsthand of the beautiful contributions Black people were and had been making to art, music, film, writing, and culture. The speaker of the poem knows that as time progresses, people will recognize the contributions Black people have made to the world and the humanity that exists in Black people as it exists in all people. He knows that once white Americans recognize this, they will feel ashamed of how they treated Black people in the past.

This shame will echo the shame they felt earlier in the poem, but now it is proper shame. Whereas before, they felt shame at their brotherhood with Black people, now they feel shame about themselves and their own actions. In the context of this poem, that movement is essential for progress and for America, as a whole, to truly sing in a harmonious voice made up of all its people.