"I, Too, Am Harvard" Tumblr Blog & The Poem "I, Too, Sing America"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about and a link to the Tumblr blog "I, Too, Am Harvard", This post also showcases the poem the Langston Hughes poem "I, Too, Sing America".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, sociological, motivational, and aesthetic purposes.

All content remain with their owners.

Thanks to the students of Harvard who created the Tumblr Blog and thanks to Langston Hughes who wrote the poem which served as inspiration for that blog's title & spirit. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of the videos that are featured in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT "I, TOO, AM HARVARD"
From http://news.yahoo.com/black-harvard-students-target-cliches-via-tumblr-blog-221129422.html
Washington (AFP) - Black students at Harvard University, appropriating a line from a celebrated African-American poet, are harnessing social media to challenge racial stereotypes -- and inspiring similar blogs across the Atlantic.

I, Too, Am Harvard is a Tumblr blog, viewed more than 235,000 times as of Thursday, in which 63 students reveal some of the more frustrating and condescending remarks they've encountered at the Ivy League school...

The blog coincides with an eponymous play based on interviews with black Harvard students that takes its title from "I, Too, Am America" by the late African-American poet Langston Hughes...

"Our voices often go unheard on this campus, our experiences are devalued, our presence is questioned," the blog states.

"This project is our way of speaking back, of claiming this campus, of standing up to say: We are here. This place is ours. We, TOO, are Harvard."

Just over 1,100 of Harvard's 21,000 students are African-American, according to its provost's office."...

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LINK TO "I TOO AM HARVARD" TUMBLER: http://itooamharvard.tumblr.com/

[Summary Statement from that website]
"A photo campaign highlighting the faces and voices of black students at Harvard College. Our voices often go unheard on this campus, our experiences are devalued, our presence is questioned-- this project is our way of speaking back, of claiming this campus, of standing up to say: We are here. This place is ours. We, TOO, are Harvard. The #itooamharvard photo campaign is inspired by I, Too, Am Harvard, a play based on interviews with members of the black community exploring and affirming our diverse experiences as black students at Harvard College. The original play premieres on Friday March 7th, 2014 at 7 PM in Lowell Lecture Hall on the campus of Harvard College. facebook.com/itooamharvard @iTooAmHarvard #itooamharvard 253452"

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE POEM "I, TOO, SING AMERICA"
From http://www.shmoop.com/i-too-sing-america/
[Langston] Hughes was often considered the poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural explosion that took place in New York City during the 1920s and '30s, giving rise to popular jazz, all kinds of African-American art, and a whole slew of seminal (that means first, and really important) works of African-American literature and poetry. You probably already know some of Hughes's other poetry, like "Harlem" (also called "Dream Deferred") and "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

Hughes published "I, Too, Sing America" in 1945, a good ten years or so before the start of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Racism and prejudice were rampant in the US at the beginning of the 20th century – much more than they are now – and so Hughes's poem envisions a day in which whites and blacks will eat "at the table" together, in which black citizens will be truly classified as equal Americans."

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FEATURED EXAMPLES

Example #1: Langston Hughes - I, Too



Impossible Paradise, Uploaded on Aug 8, 2010

Read by Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes (1902 - 1967).

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 we are
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

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Example #2:
I Too Sing America By Langston Hughes: Visual Representation



William Sexton Uploaded on Mar 31, 2010

This is a project I made for my 9th Grade English class. It is a visual representation of Langston Hughes' "I, Too, Sing America." narrated by Denzel Washington.

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