POEMS: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Channel: Lightbulb Heart
Date: 2020-05-22

I love the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar! Today, I am reading three of his poems about summer, talking a little bit about his life, and recommending some picture books! We'll also learn a new word: "effulgent" :) 

The poems are: "A Boy's Song of Summer," "A Song," and "On the River." 
You can find them online in the "Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar" on Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18338 

**May 27, 2020 Update -- Note for Caregivers: For more information about Paul Laurence Dunbar and the ongoing relevance of his work, please listen to the podcast SINCERELY, LETTIE: "Why We Wear the Mask." 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-wear-the-mask/id1472953701?i=1000471518841 
Lettie Shumate is a historian and anti-racism advocate. Her work is powerful and necessary.** 

The picture books I talk about are all illustrated by Sean Qualls. 
- Jump Back, Paul: The Life and Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, by Sally Derby (middle grade book about Paul Laurence Dunbar) https://tinyurl.com/y7cyyb6q 

- Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat Ella Fitzgerald, by Roxane Orgill https://tinyurl.com/yaphog3y 

- Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane, by Carole Boston Weatherford https://tinyurl.com/ydgda2km 

- Lullaby, by Langston Hughes https://tinyurl.com/y9bzhs85 

Images: 
- Portrait:  By The African-American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920, - Ohio Historical Society, Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16835163 

- Sketch: By Unknown author - Wood, Norman B. White Side of a Black Subject. Chicago: American Publishing, 1897. Originally uploaded to en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=772765 3

- Postage stamp: Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3019454 

- Alice Ruth Moore: By Unknown photographer - Twentieth Century Negro Literature http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18772, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1686731