Women Who Write

Embrace the Power of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Legacy: The Mask We Wear

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

He was born in Dayton, Ohio. His parents had been enslaved in Kentucky before the Civil War.

Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school''s literary society.

He became one of the first influential Black poets in American literature and was internationally acclaimed for his dialect verse in collections such as Majors and Minors (Hadley & Hadley, 1895) and Lyrics of Lowly Life (Dodd, Mead and Company, 1896).

Celebrating The Colour Purple and Its Legacy

The Colour Purple (1982) is a novel by Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. It has faced censorship due to its explicit content, appearing on the American Library Association''s list of most frequently challenged books from 2000–2010. Adaptations include films in 1985 and 2023, a 2005 musical, and a 2008 BBC radio serial.

The story follows Celie, a poor African-American girl in early 1900s Georgia, who writes letters to God about her abusive life. Celie endures rape by her father, losing her children to him, and marries Mister, who also abuses her. Celie befriends Sofia, Harpo’s wife, and Shug Avery, a singer who becomes her lover. Celie discovers hidden letters from her sister Nettie, revealing their true parentage and Nettie''s life in Africa with Celie''s children. Celie eventually leaves Mister, inherits her family''s land, and…