Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first know African American writers (Meet). He attended a high school in Dayton, Ohio (Meet). He was the only African American to attend that school (Meet). In high school, he participated in many writings activities. He wrote the play for the drama club, edited the school news paper, and was also class president (Meet). That is a big deal because since he was the only African American. He did not have this much success outside of school. He could not afford college and could not find any jobs with newspapers or law firms (Meet). He took a job as an elevator operator (Meet). When there was nobody in the elevator, he would write stories (Meet). He was discovered by the Wright Brothers who owned a private publishing office (Meet). To be able to write his first poem, Dunbar took out a loan to be able to get the book published (Meet). His first book was called Oak and Ivory (Meet). He sold it to passengers on the elevators (Meet). He also spoke at a convention in Chicago with Fredrick Douglas (Meet). That must have been cool reading your poetry with another African American like his self. In 1898, he married an African American poet named Alice Ruth Moore (Meet). His second edition was called Majors and Minors (Meet). He got a lot of praise for it. A writer named William Dean Howells read his poems and he really liked them (Meet). He helped to spark Dunbar's popularity. He was the first African American to be able to live off of the earnings he made from his writings (Meet). Dunbar must have been proud of himself and his writings.
In the Poem Douglas, Dunbar uses realism. He does by telling a poem about Fredrick Douglas. He is looking to Douglas for help support from the hard times dealing with the end of the Civil War (Meet). Realism is a time where people wrote about their feelings and emotions of the things there were going through (Werlock). I think it would be scary to be alive during this time, especially if you are a black because the racial hatred would be horrible. I can tell just by the very bigiging of the poem. Dunbar says, "Ah, Douglas, we have fall'n on evil days" (Dunbar, Douglas). That shows realism because he is telling of a real feelings he has for the black community. In Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask" is a powerful poem. Dunbar is talking about how the African Americans put on a mask and smile to show they are fine when they really are not (Dunbar, We). "We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes" (Dunbar, We). That is true for every person in the world. If we were able to tell people how we really felt and were able to be ourselves, the world would have no control or uniform. It shows realism because he is talking about the true feelings of the people in that time period. Dunbar used his life to give real meaning to his writings.

"Meet Paul Laurence Dunbar." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 568. Print.

Dunbar, Paul Laurence "Douglas." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 570. Print.

Dunbar, Paul Laurence "We Wear the Mask." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffery D. Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 571. Print.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/