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The tone of “I, Too” is anticipatory and expectant. The speaker of the poem is a Black servant in a white household. His inferior position in relation to the family he serves reflects the broader social and political hierarchy of the United States at the time, when Black people were denied full citizenship rights. From his position of exclusion and inequity, the speaker imagines a moment in the near future when his value as a human will at last be recognized. At that time, he will also take his rightful place at the proverbial table—that is, both at the literal dinner table in the house where he works, and in society at large. It’s important to underscore the sense of certainty the speaker communicates in his anticipation of a more equitable future. Consider his words in the third stanza (lines 8–13):

     Tomorrow,
     I’ll be at the table
     When company comes.
     Nobody’ll dare
     Say to me,
     “Eat in the kitchen,”
     Then.

The speaker makes this declaration not out of a vague hope that equity might one day come. Instead, he speaks with urgency, as if he fully expects to help materialize this new reality, and soon. When this new future does finally arrive, white society will realize just how overdue it is, and they’ll “be ashamed” (line 17) because of it.

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