Racism and identity in Langston Hughes’s poetry
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Learn about the poetic power of language from one of America’s greatest writers.
Langston Hughes remains one of the greatest writers in American history. Langston Hughes’s poem “I, Too” reveals how African-Americans are just as American as any other citizen who resides in the United States. The speaker of the poem is supposedly an African-American man who describes himself as darker than other citizens. The poem suggests that the speaker is still an essential part of the figurative American family that he is a member of in spite of his darker complexion.
Such a description also suggests that external appearances should never determine the status of American citizenship. The speaker also hints at the mistreatment of African-Americans. Nevertheless, the speaker continues to live meaningfully in spite of the bleakness that pervades his life as a slave.
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The next stanza also presents a sense of optimism, and suggests that the future is brighter for the otherwise lowly African-American slave. The speaker explicitly mentions how he will persevere onto the very next day, which implies that the speaker will be able to enjoy more freedom tomorrow after enduring the pain and sorrow of the present moment.
Finally, the speaker of the poem expresses hope by mentioning how people in the future would admire him, which reveals how African-American slaves would persevere in their search for freedom and equality. The speaker ultimately asserts how even the typical African-American slave is just as American as any white master because of the simple fact that they all coexist on American soil.
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