Oak and Ivy (Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Biography Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Addison Gayle
- First Published: 1971
- Time of Work: 1872–1906
- Setting: Ohio, England, New York City, and Boston
- Principal Characters: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Alice Dunbar Nelson, William Dean Howells, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, A. H. Toby, Frederick Douglass
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: African Americans, Racism, Authors or writers, Slavery or slaves, Marriage, Poetry or poets, Libraries or librarians, Alcoholism or alcoholics, Substance abuse, Criticism, Fame, Elevators
- Locales: New York, NY, Boston, MA, Ohio, England
Form and Content
In addition to outlining the particulars of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s career as a poet and writer, Addison Gayle’s Oak and Ivy: A Biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar discusses the fundamental conflicts and divisions between African Americans and whites in the late 1800’s, primarily by looking at Dunbar’s ambivalence as reflected in his literary works. Gayle starts his biography with a powerful anecdote. A scholar, Dr. Chapman, was scheduled to speak in Toledo, Ohio, on “The Negro in the South,” and Dunbar was to read poetry during the same...
[The entire page is 1956 words long]
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