I'm a Man (Bo Diddley song)

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"I'm A Man" is a popular American song written and released by Bo Diddley in March 1955 on Checker Records (the writing credit is under Diddley's name Ellas McDaniel). Based on Muddy Waters' 1952 blues song "She Moves Me", Muddy Waters recorded a cover of "I'm a Man" in May 1955, retitled "Mannish Boy," a play on words on Bo Diddley's younger age as it related to the primary theme of the song.

Released in a period of American history entrenched in segregation and tense race relations, this song's primary theme was affirming the status of the African-American. In later civil rights marches, activists would hold signs declaring "I AM a man", fighting against the idea that an African-American man should be treated differently than any other man.