Langston James Hughes

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I, too, sing America

I, too, sing America.

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.

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LANGSTON JAMES

HUGHES

James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri.

He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue"-

Scholars and biographers generally agree that Hughes was homosexual ( although it kept hidden from the public to avoid jeopardizing his career ) , and that many of his poems contain allusions about his sexual orientation , similar to what was Walt Whitman. Also he addressed the issue more explicitly in the story " Blessed Assurance ''.

He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1929.