In this 1896 poem, black writer Paul Laurence Dunbar refers to the mask that African American wear in order to get along with white citizens.

This is not a real mask. The mask is a metaphor for the smiling faces black people put on around white people. Rather than showing their true anguish at how white American citizens treats them, African Americans "grin" and "smile." They also "sing" as if they are happy.

The emotions their smiling faces conceal are sadness and a longing for a better a experience ("sighs") and grief ("tears"). At the end of the poem, the speaker lets out a cry to Christ from the "tortured souls" of black people. These people are sad, grieving, and yearning for more equality.

This poem is clearly aimed at a white audience, as African Americans would already understand their own anguish. Dunbar is trying to draw white citizens' attention to the idea that, even though black people might look happy and contented, underneath this mask their hearts are breaking at the prejudices they are subjected to.