An Ante-Bellum Sermon

“Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1893)

Undoubtedly Dunbar’s most famous poem, “Sympathy” depicts a bird longing to free itself from its cage. The poem is deeply symbolic and somewhat ambiguous, but most critics believe the bird represents the oppressed Black race in America. The poem’s famous final line, “I know why the caged bird sings!”, inspired the title of poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou’s autobiography and cemented Dunbar’s legacy as a formative Black poet who spoke for his race.

“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1895)

Another of Dunbar’s most famous poems, “We Wear the Mask” portrays the ways Black people had to feign a happy, non-threatening persona or “mask” to survive in the white-dominated America. The poem also illuminates the inner turmoil and the desperation those Black people who must wear masks feel.

“To the South—On Its New Slavery” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1903)

In this longer poem, Dunbar addresses the South and laments the lack of improvement for its Black citizens even though slavery had been abolished. He regards this new era of Reconstruction as no more than a “sly convenient hell” (Line 59) and argues that “Sanctioned Slavery” (Line 63) has merely been replaced by “unsanctioned crime” (Line 64) against Black people.