I, TOO, SING AMERICA By Langston Hughes Taylor Morrison, Hannah Austin, Miguel Hernandez and Aaron Hile

Langston Hughes Born February 1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri Parents divorced; father moved to Mexico Moved to Lincoln, Illinois with his mother and her husband Hughes began writing poetry after moving to Lincoln 1924: Moved to Washington, D.C. 1926: Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published Known for insightfully and colorfully portraying the black life in America from the twenties through the sixties Hughes told the stories of his people by reflecting their actual culture, suffering, love, music, laughter, and language Died on May 22, 1967 in New York due to complications from prostate cancer Hughes wrote eleven plays and a numerous amount of poetic work including: -“Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Stakes a Claim, Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple’s Uncle Sam

I, Too, Sing America by Langston Hughes I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company come, 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.

Title- The title shows that the poem might be about someone singing. Paraphrase- The speaker is black. The people don’t let him eat with them when other people come. He is like any other person. The next day, he will not eat in the kitchen. The other people will see him and be surprised. The people will realize that they were wrong about how they should have been treating him. Connotation- The first seven lines of the poem are showing how the speaker is not treated in the same way as other people. The poem has a similar line at the beginning and end, “I, too, sing America” and “I, too, am America”, and this is used because they both show that the speaker is just like anybody else. Attitude- The poem has a proud but sad tone at the beginning. Then, the poem changes to only a proud tone, no longer sad in the eighth line. Shifts- The eighth line is the biggest shift in the poem. The tone changes and an unexpected outcome occurs. The speaker does not stay away when people come, like he usually does. (Irony) Title- The speaker is just like everyone else. He is equal to anybody else. Theme- The poem is telling a story about a man who was not treated equally because he is different. The poem addresses that all people need to be treated equally. People should not judge others by their differences. All people are the same, even if they are not on the outside. TP-CASTT