I, Too, Sing America

In I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry, author and historian Catherine Clinton presents a comprehensive collection of verse by black American poets, selected especially for young readers. Accompanied by Stephen Alcorn's illustrations, the poems of this volume bring to vibrant life a wide array of African American voices past and present, from the first known American poet of color, a slave named Lucy Terry, to icons of the genre, such as Langston Hughes and Paul Laurence Dunbar, from Phillis Wheatley, who was the first black female poet to gain worldwide recognition, to United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove. The result is not just a celebration of the black experience, but a wide-ranging examination of what it means to be a person of color in America, how that meaning has evolved over the centuries, and the work that remains unfinished.

I, Too, Sing America opens with Langston Hughes's poem of the same name, one of the historical cornerstones of the nation's poetic landscape. In it, Hughes laments the "separate but equal" mentality that for so long kept African Americans segregated from mainstream society. He reminds the world that he, too, is an American, and he, too, sings of the country's joys and heartbreaks, freedoms and injustices, successes and failures. One day, Hughes asserts, "they'll see how beautiful I am/ And be ashamed."

In her introduction, Clinton discusses the vital importance of black poets, both in history and in the present day. She writes that enslaved Africans and their descendants utilize poetry to its fullest potential by using it as a means of challenging those who would deny them liberty. Many, she says, insist on "singing America," "even while whites [turn] a deaf ear." Their struggles continue, and the "power and promise" of their words can point us in a direction where "one day we can all find a way to sing America together."



The first poet featured is Lucy Terry, who lived from 1730 to 1821. Her poem, "Bars Fight," is a chronicle of two white families ambushed by Native Americans in 1746. In bearing witness to this event, Terry illustrates just how integral black folks were to the nation from its earliest days.

A poem from pioneering Colonial poet Phillis Wheatley follows. She was the first African American and the second woman to publish a book in the United States. Her poem "Liberty and Peace" pays tribute to Crispus Attucks, an American stevedore of color who was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre.

From here, Clinton leads readers on a chronological journey through three centuries of African American history, told through the eyes of the poets who lived it. In the nineteenth century, George Moses Horton, James M. Whitfield, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper are among those whose work is profiled. In the twentieth century, the Harlem Renaissance produces a number of celebrated poets. By the middle of the century, poets more recognizable to modern readers feature prominently. In addition to Hughes, there's Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Audre Lorde.



I, Too, Sing America includes many of the iconic names one can expect to find, like Dunbar, Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Georgia Douglas Johnson. But unexpected contributors also appear in these pages, such as legendary scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker. In presenting a variety of voices from markedly different eras, this volume demonstrates the rich diversity of people, events, and experiences that comprise the history and influence the identity of people of color in the United States.

Maya Angelou's contribution perfectly sums up the overarching theme of all the works featured. In her famous poem "Still I Rise," she writes, "You may write me down in history/ With your bitter, twisted lies,/ You may trod me in the very dirt/ But still, like dust, I'll rise…./ Out of the huts of history's shame/ I rise/ Up from a past that’s rooted in pain/ I rise…./ Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,/ I am the dream and the hope of the slave."

First published by Houghton Mifflin in 1998, I, Too, Sing America features a brief biography of every featured poet. Clinton gives an overview of their lives and their contributions to American literature. She then includes some context for each poem: the subject of the piece or the circumstances surrounding its creation. These succinct details help readers gain a fuller perspective and appreciation of the work and how it fits into the larger history of African Americans and into the evolution of American letters.



The anthology concludes with notes from both Clinton and Alcorn. Clinton talks about the timelessness of poetry, in general, and the particularly enduring power of the poets whose work she collects here. Alcorn gives insights into his creative process in illustrating some of these verses.