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KOLUMN Magazine

Paul Laurence Dunbar, Historically Black College & University, HBCU, Langston University, Black Girls Code, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, DEI, Critical Race Theory, CRT, African American News, Black News, Urban News, African American Newspaper, Black Newspaper, African American Magazine, Black Magazine, African American History, Black History, African American Wealth, Black Wealth, African American Health, Black Health, African American Economics, Black Economics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN Books, KINDR'D Magazine, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, African American Art, Black Art, African American Politics, Black Politics, African American City, Black City, African American People, Black People, Allegory, Segregation, Racism, Reparations, 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Paul Laurence Dunbar, Historically Black College & University, HBCU, Langston University, Black Girls Code, Diversity Equity & Inclusion, DEI, Critical Race Theory, CRT, African American News, Black News, Urban News, African American Newspaper, Black Newspaper, African American Magazine, Black Magazine, African American History, Black History, African American Wealth, Black Wealth, African American Health, Black Health, African American Economics, Black Economics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN Books, KINDR'D Magazine, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, African American Art, Black Art, African American Politics, Black Politics, African American City, Black City, African American People, Black People, Allegory, Segregation, Racism, Reparations, 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
A 1903 portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Photo, Wikimedia Commons

THE BRIEF BUT SHINING LIFE OF PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR, A POET WHO GAVE DIGNITY TO THE BLACK EXPERIENCE

A prolific writer, he inspired such luminaries as Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes
Paul Laurence Dunbar was only 33 years old when he died in 1906.
In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experiences of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was one of the first Black Americans to make a living as a writer and was seminal in the start of the New Negro Movement and the Harlem Renaissance.
Dunbar also wrote one of the most iconic phrases in Black literature—“I know why the caged bird sings”—in his poem “Sympathy.” The poem’s last stanza reads:

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,— When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings— I know why the caged bird sings!

Published in 1899, “Sympathy” inspired acclaimed Black writer and activist Maya Angelou to use Dunbar’s line as the title of her seminal 1969 autobiography.

Celebrating Our Lives