Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in a northern town near Dayton, Ohio, on June 27, 1872 (Brawley 12). His parents instilled in him the value of education, and he excelled at the all-white Dayton Central High School, where he held the titles of class president, president of the school's literary society, and editor of the school newspaper (15). Dunbar was extremely educated; he spoke and wrote in standard English, but just as often his poetry was written in black dialect. As one of the first professional African American literary figures (Baym 1038), Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry consists of two distinct styles: his dialect pieces with the simple rhyme schemes of the lyric form of the ballad, like his 1897 poem When Malindy Sings, and his classic poetry which has more complex rhymes and forms and is written in standard English like his 1897 poem, We Wear the Mask. The dialect poem When Malindy Sings is the result of what Dunbar called the mask, and what WEB Dubois would later call double consciousness. It depicts black society through the eyes of white America and how they wish to see it, while the poem written in classical form, We Wear the Mask, exposes Dunbar's true thoughts regarding his identity and the identity of his race.WEB Du Bois introduced his concept of double consciousness in the first chapter of Souls of Black Folk, entitled Of Our Spiritual Strivings. He wrote that the African American is born with a “second sight” that offers him “no true self-awareness, but only allows him to see himself through the revelation of the other world” (896). Du Bois further clarifies double consciousness as "the feeling of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul against the middle of a paper......Benjamin. Paul Laurence Dunbar: poet of his people. 1967 reissue. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, INC., 1967. 12. Print.Du Bois, WEB “The Souls of Black Folk.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print. Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “When Malindy sings.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print. Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We wear the mask.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. PrintIntroduction to Paul Laurence Dunbar. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print. Robinson, Lillian S. and Greg Robinson. “Paul Laurence Dunbar: an honor to his race? African American Review. 41.2 (2007): 218. Print.