Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask is a documentary on the life and legacy of the first African American to achieve national fame as a writer. Born to former slaves in Dayton, Ohio, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906), is best remembered for his poem, "We Wear the Mask” and for lines from “Sympathy” that became the title of Maya Angelou’s famous autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Writer and director Frederick Lewis is a professor in the School of Media Arts & Studies at Ohio University. His independent documentaries have been seen on PBS stations throughout the U.S. and been screened at more than 100 cultural/educational venues, including the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
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