I, Too

“I, Too” is a poem built on contrasts. The poem contrasts the “darker brother” (Line 2) with the undescribed “they,” or white people. The poem contrasts those who sit at the table, meaning they have power, with those who eat in the kitchen, meaning that they lack it. The poem also contrasts the inequality of the past with the coming equality of the future.

Hughes designs these contrasts to represent the dynamic between white and Black people in America. Those whose skin color supposedly does not define them are the default—the people who own the table and all the food at it. Yet their power is superficial: As the speaker explains, when they send him away, his first reaction is to laugh. He knows their power is superficial. He knows it is not real or based on any legitimate stake or natural law. Because the speaker understands this, he is confident that one day, this power dynamic will shift, and because of his efforts to strengthen himself in the shadows, he will destroy the power dynamic.

The imagery at the beginning of the poem also brings to mind historical images of house slaves, slave owners or wealthy white families, and Black domestic servants. In the antebellum South, slave owners used Black house slaves to set the table, prepare meals, and entertain guests on the plantation. Hughes invokes the image of a slave or servant whose “master” believes he has control over him; similar to many Black people during slavery, the speaker only puts on an act of subservience. Meanwhile, when he is away from prying eyes, he builds himself, betters himself, and prepares himself for the day he will be free. Hughes makes this defiance clear later in the poem when he writes, “Nobody’ll dare / Say to me, / “Eat in the kitchen” (Lines 11-13). The line comes off almost like a threat. This is because the speaker has moved from being under the control of someone else to being completely autonomous. It is a move from inequality to equality, but it comes with time and work.