✊🏿ap african american studies review

We Wear the Mask

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2027 exam
Verified for the 2027 examWritten by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025

Definition

A poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1895) that uses the symbol of 'the mask' to represent African Americans' concealment of their true selves and emotions due to racial discrimination and social exclusion.

AP course connection

Topic 3.7: 3.7 The Color Line and Double Consciousness in American Society

Unit 3

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