What was langston hughes purpose for writing i too am america?

He was responding to Walt Whitman's poem "I Hear America Singing" which is all about the white man's struggle to "tame" the American world, but makes no mention of the African American experience. Hughes writes in response to remind the world he, and his fellow African Americans are not only present in this history as well, but will continue to grow strong, and will not always be second cl citizens.