Braeden Kimball

September 26, 2023

Singing, as a motif appearing in early American literature and poetry, is important in

redefining the values of America, at the time, lacking an identity, in coming together to write a

new future and answer the racial and political questions holding the country back. Hughes

stresses inequality on a personal level as a black man in early post Reconstruction America,

whereas Whitman focuses his attention on a patriotic anthem sung by the blue collar people of

America in bringing identity to the nation. In Langston Hughes’ “I, Too” he writes “They send

me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong,”

emphasizing the racial divide at the time, as being a black man, Hughes accepts the current state

of race in America, that he may not currently be accepted, though has a positive outlook on the

future and boasts his growth through unfair times. Walt Whitman in “I Hear America Singing”

addresses similarly ”Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, the day what

belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,” reiterating the idea that

Nobody sings the same song, though when each do it harmonize in a sound that define America

and tell the story of every person. Much like Hughes, who sings his song alone, in the kitchen,

though in singing and growing hopes to conjoin with his white and colored counterparts and be

one. Finally, Hughes adds ”They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed—I, too, am

America,” again further solidifying that America sings in, as in Whitman’s poem, and in “I,

Too,” where Hughes makes it clear he too, “sings America.” Hughes strives to be included in

this song by all as it would strengthen the identity of America. Through the song of America, the
two poets express how music brings people together and acts as a vessel for community and

growth.