Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Marshall Circle: Racial Representation from Blackface to Black Naturalism

• Published in: African American review 2009-12, Vol.43 (4), p.633-654
• Main Author: Daigle, Jonathan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African American culture; African Americans; Artists; Collaboration; Cultural change; Cultural differences; Dunbar, Paul Laurence (1872-1906); Johnson, James Weldon (1871-1938); Literary criticism; Literary naturalism; Performing artists; Poetry; Poets; Politics; Race; Racism; Recessions; Riots; Sadness; Stereotypes; Theater
• ISSN: 1062-4783; 1945-6182; 1945-6182
• DOI: 10.1353/afa.2009.0066

No period k black American cultural history was more mercurial, and at the present time, no period is less understood than the "nadk," which stretched from the end of Reconstruction to World War I.1 With the exception of touring spiritual choks celebrated for thek natural power, black artists were largely kvisible to white Americans until the mid-1 890s when ragtime exploded, mkstrel stars sold millions of copies of thek sheet music, and Paul Laurence Dunbar rose to national promkence.2 A pioneering novelist who was hailed as the "black poet laureate" and "prince of 'coon' song writers" ("Paul Laurence Dunbar" n. pag.), Dunbar represents perhaps the best starting place for a reassessment of the black nadir. There is a difference between pursuing new cultural possibilities out of available forms on the one hand and subverting stereotypes through multi-layered representations on the other-even though both modes, never quite discrete, not only challenged racism but also were integral to the development of distinctive black cultures in the U S. A key element in the Marshall Circle's own alchemy-the spontaneous, visceral force of the low-end "coon" shows in Sport-reflects both the theater's collaborative potential and also, more generally, the black community's profound will toward art.