African American Poetry Break

THE DREAM KEEPER

Introduction
Ask children what they dream of being when they grow up and if they know a policeman, nurse, teacher, preacher, or someone they wish to be like. Explain that we live in America and we are free to work towards any dream that we have.
Say America and read the poem.

I, Too

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 sit 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.

Hughes, Langston, THE DREAM KEEPER; and other poems, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.

Extension
We have a new president, President Barack Obama. Do you think he dreamed of being a president? I have several books with poems about different careers. Look for a poem you like perhaps you’ll find one about what you dream of being.
The poems they select and copy will be the start to their own anthologies.