Early African American Poetry We Wear the Mask Poster

This poster has a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906) titled We Wear the Mask. Born to two formerly enslaved people from Kentucky, Dunbar was one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. According to LitCharts, this poem "is a reaction to the experience of being black in America in the late 19th century, following the Civil War—a period when life seemed to have improved for black Americans yet in reality was still marked by intense racism and hardship. Dunbar compares surviving the pain of oppression to wearing a mask that hides the suffering of its wearer while presenting a more joyful face to the world. All that said, the poem itself does not specifically mention race; its message is applicable to any circumstance in which marginalised people are forced to present a brave face in order to survive in an unsympathetic, prejudiced society."