"The Lynching of Jube Benson" and "The Mission of Mr. Scatters" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

This week we continue our tribute to Black History Month. Paul Dunbar was the husband of last week’s author Alice Dunbar Nelson until he died is 1906 of TB. Born to former slaves in Dayton, Ohio, where he was boyhood friends with the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar is best remembered for lines from Sympathy that became the title of Maya Angelou’s famous autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Frederick Douglass called him “the most promising young colored man in America”. However, he became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation.
Much of his work is written in “dialect” which brought a mix of criticism and praise. Some said his use of dialect fostered stereotypes of blacks as comical or pathetic.
Others said “he was the first to rise to a height from which he could take a perspective view of his own race. He was the first to see objectively its humor, its superstitions, its short-comings; the first to feel sympathetically its heart-wounds, its yearnings, its aspirations, and to voice them all in a purely literary form."
So. Is it stereotypical, or sympathetic? I will read these stories. You be the judge.

[@5BoroRaph]

Your story-telling voice and passion is of the highest quality. Thank you for sharing all of these!

[@karenwood1364]

I am so impressed by everything about your channel, your narrations but the insights at the beginning. I am visually impaired x ayou are so impirtant to me. Thank you so very much

[@notyourmothersstorytime]

Thank you! It makes me so happy when listeners enjoy the stories. I love recording them!

[@GerriWritesAbit]

Thank you for posting. Can't find this anywhere!

[@rattyrachel4316]

Very difficult to listen to the story of Jube’s Lynching, because of its brutality and because of the injustice done to an innocent man. In the celebration of Black history month, shouldn’t we have a celebratory story or article of some kind? Something perhaps from the pen of Frederick Douglass or the lips of Dr. King? Or Fannie Lou Hamer? Plenty of material out there not under copyright, I would think. (I think you did a good job reading the stories - you always do. The stories were well written. I just think that in this day and time, we should be careful of reading publicly those articles and stories that may inadvertently pass on stereotypes of a race of people. (For the record, however, I certainly do not believe in censorship.)

[@notyourmothersstorytime]

Yes. It is very difficult and uncomfortable, for certain. I wanted to read this story because honoring Black History, to me, means recognizing the horrible mistreatment of these people. How they were seen as less than human. It's far too easy to romanticize their past and gloss over the injustice that was done. It is my hope that these kinds of stories will spark more empathy for the current status of Black people in our society. We still have a long way to go.

[@rattyrachel4316]

Not Your Mother's Storytime I understand and appreciate your sentiments. Yes, we do have a long way to go. ❤️