Paul Laurence Dunbar, 1890. A search on Dunbar also provides a good deal of biographical information about Paul Laurence Dunbar , an esteemed nineteenth-century poet. Accounts of Dunbar s life are available in another 1893 Cleveland Gazette piece and a 1914 booklet , while his 1894 poem about a Thanksgiving turkey, Signs of the Times provides an example of his dialectical voice. Other poets followed Dunbar s lead in making African-American dialect a standard in their work. Persuasive Writing Frederick Douglass's speeches provide a number of excellent examples of persuasive writing and public speaking that lend themselves to dramatic reading and imitation.
Birthdays belong to free institutions.
We at the South never knew them. We were born at times harvest times, watermelon times and generally hard times. I never knew anything about the celebration of a birthday except Washington s birthday, and it seems a little strange to have mine celebrated. I think it is hardly safe to celebrate any man s birthday while he lives. Page 1 Speech by Fred Douglass Drawing of Frederick Douglass.