A major documentary on the life & legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906) the first African American writer to achieve national fame. Best known for his poem, "We Wear The Mask," lines from "Sympathy" became the title of Maya Angelou's autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." A clip of Angelou reciting "Sympathy" on the David Frost Show is featured. PLD was friends with the Wright Brothers who published his newspaper for Dayton, OH's black citizens. At the 1893 World's Fair, Frederick Douglass called PLD "The most promising young black man in America." Dunbar wrote essays critical of Jim Crow laws and lynching, and "The Negro Problem." He was friends with WEB DuBois & critical of Booker T Washington's conciliatory philosophy. To earn a living he wrote songs for Broadway that echoed minstrelsy.