Paul Laurence Dunbar

When students couldn't answer that question, we knew it was time to take action.

Dr. Lawrence? I think for me, being a Dayton native and a Dayton Public Schools graduate, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, high school graduate, I remember Patterson Cooperative, John H.

Patterson.

And that was one of the best schools in the nation.

because it was just this place where suddenly like all the racism and hate was off limits.

And Josephine Baker performed there and Paul Laurence Dunbar did like the original deaf poetry dram there.

And it's amazing.

Like this story is amazing.

Young man, you said something that lit me up.

You go to Dunbar, correct? Do, do you know who Paul Laurence Dunbar was? Do you know who he was? He was a writer and he was a poet, so it wasn't just about athletics, even though Dunbar is known nationally-

Yes

... for athletics, but they're also known for their world-renowned poets.

We can stay quiet, but that doesn't necessarily mean we are at peace.

Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote, "We wear the mask that grins and lies." This is a beautiful poem.

I want you guys to get that poem.

W- listen, Paul Laurence Dunbar, "We wear the mask that grins and lies." What does your smile hide from the person you sleep next to? Huh? The great Dr.

Martin Luther King described agape as a love that seeks nothing in return.

Does that sound like the great Krishnamurti? I love you, but I don't want anything from you.

Listen to this

So when you think of the words of Paul Laurence Dunbar, "We wear the mask that grins and lies, and hides our cheeks and shades our eyes," that's the beauty of this moment.

For the first time in my lifetime, Black people across America are able to unapologetically say, "We are angry, and we are frustrated, and we are hurting." But I think in the same way, white people across America are unapologetically able to say, "I am ignorant, and perhaps I am complicit." And I think for all of the hurt and pain and agony that's gone into where we are in this moment in time, I think that is the silver lining, that we get to have open conversations about what white privilege means.

Because usually that's a conversation that we have behind closed doors, and we dare not have it, uh, in front of mixed company because we don't want to offend anyone or put our positions in jeopardy.

One from Booker T. Washington, Atlanta Exposition Speech, was also delivered.

Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem entitled Signs of the Times, a Thanksgiving poem, was read by one of the pupils, and also The Party, another of Dunbar's pieces, was rendered.

The Negro National Hymn, words by James W. Johnson and music by his brother Rosemond Johnson, was sung by a chorus of fifty voices.

At the opening of the service, the president's Thanksgiving proclamation was read and appropriate remarks were made by Mrs. Wilkins.

And I gotta, you know, I gotta put my, put my mask on my work mask on, which is something that was really important for the workers.

Something we kind of came on to was like the work mask versus like, the mask when you're not at work and how you have to sometimes just like um put the mask on and i had remembered uh there's a famous uh paul laurence dunbar poem we wear the mask which really uh i read to them and they you know got some like inspiration of like how do we you know show that because like everyone can identify with like okay i'm about to walk into the office i may not be in it right now but like hey, everyone, how are you doing? Like, it's a great day.

You know, how do you navigate that? And how do you deal with that? And then once you get off of work, how do you turn off from that? And what are you, you just go home? Are you going to grab a drink? Are you just sitting in your car for an hour? Like, decompressing like everyone has different you know uh ways and then we you know also a big important thing was you know public transportation and you know having to ride the bus and like your bus is late or then you get off to ride the metro link and it's down and like you know just like everything that these workers are having to like navigate in real time

right and weighs on their lives which yeah the whole point of working is to have a life and if it consumes you then you've lost the core which i i and then i love i know i think we know okay i do work a job and then i'm gonna go act or i'm gonna direct or whatever And while that will drain me physically and mentally, it will also inspire me.