American Rhetoric: Movie Speech

"The Great Debaters" (2007)

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

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.