I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes.
Hughes alludes to and expands Walt Whitman’s poem,  “I Hear America Singing.”  In Whitman’s poem, the poet tries to capture and celebrate the many varied voices of America.  Langston Hughes crucially adds the “too” to this line to show that although many walks of life are portrayed in Whitman’s poem, the African American is not. This poem is the song of the neglected voice, in which Hughes positions himself as both heir to and critic of Whitman.
I Too sing America