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.
Hughes repeats that crucial “too” again in the last line of the poem. Now the speaker, previously cast aside, not only sings of America but claims it as an identity. Over the course of the poem, the speaker articulates how he has been treated and how he feels about it, and sings of a different future. Through his song, the speaker moves from recognition to hope and in that process is able to stake his claim.
I Too sing America