We Wear the Mask

“We Wear the Mask” is one of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s most influential works. Appearing in 1895 in his second poetry volume Majors and Minors, the poem reflects an unspecified collective, a “we” hiding behind a “mask,” which is used throughout the poem as an extended metaphor for survival tactics against oppression. “We Wear the Mask” stands as a poem about racism and oppression and the marginalized.

Dunbar’s voice as a major American writer is varied and expansive. While he may be uniquely known for his writings in the African American dialect of the time, this poem underscores his wide literary range through use of linguistic and literary devices, poetic knowledge, and clever activism, traits that appear throughout his work. Despite Paul Laurence Dunbar’s young death, he managed to become one of the first African American writers to garner international success.

Poet Biography

Born in Dayton, Ohio, on June 27, 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar is credited with being one of the first internationally recognized African American poets. He was also a novelist, essayist, and a short story writer. His parents were former slaves before the American Civil War, and his writing often reflects his experiences being Black in a racist society.