American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"The Great Debaters" (2007)

Melvin B. Tolson Delivers Langston Hughes' "I, Too, Sing America"

Windows Media Video of Address delivered by Denzel Washington

Audio mp3 delivered by Denzel Washington

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.