The second line in the poem reads, “I am the darker brother.” What does that mean?

“Darker” refers to the speaker’s skin color, and “brother” connects him to the other Americans in the poem. The speaker is an African American who is treated as an outsider because of racism, but he insists that he belongs in America. So the line means the speaker is an African American, not that he is simply moodier than his brothers.

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