Langston Hughes

In I, Too by Langston Hughes, the main theme is the freedom found in equality. The speaker tells of how he is sent to the kitchen to eat. Although this is degrading, he says he will eat well and grow stronger. In the next stanza, he speaks of Tomorrow. He says when tomorrow comes, no one will dare tell him to eat in the kitchen. This indicates that he is treated as an equal. He says that they’ll see how beautiful he is, and will be ashamed of how they treated him. The speaker knows that one day he will be free and treated as an equal to white people. He just has to be patient enough to wait for that day to come.

This piece shows the struggle for equality that African Americans faced. In this time frame, the equal rights movement was taking shape and they realized they could find freedom through equality. I thought this piece was inspirational, even though I do not know the hardships they were facing firsthand. It is a positive poem that shows that one day, African Americans will be treated as equals.