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.

Langston Hughes wrote this poem in 1926 as a response to Walt Whitman's 1881 poem I Hear America Singing, because he felt that the latter poem exalted the diverse voices that made up America, yet ignored a whole segment of the population.

Funny how some things never change...

Open thread below