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Poet: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Poem: Little Brown Baby
Poem of the Day:
Oct 27 2006
Comment 3 of 3, added on January 7th, 2006 at 8:45 PM.
At 52, I was recently reminiscing with my mother about a talent show that my second grade teacher put me in. I represented my grade and recited this poem which she had taught me. I only remembered a few of the words, and they are a bit different than what I looked up tonight to find on the internet. I remember saying, "Little Brown Baby with tears in yo eyes.....what you been a doing,there suh? Makin mudpies? Come to yo pappy and sit on his knee....I remember dramatizing the poem with dialect and being told my teacher I was talented. I did follow this oratorical path for a time; however ultimately ended up in social work and being a believer in social justice. I commented to my mother how offensive this poem would be, and wondered if I should feel guilty for dramatizing it. She reassured me, "You were just a little girl, and it was the teacher who coached you to do the poem." I dont know where the poem came from, but my teacher was Ms. Lucille Jones in Lawton, Oklahoma. I felt I had found an old lost friend in a way to find the poem tonight some 39 years later, and hoped my elementary citation honored Mr. Dunbar in some strange way all those years ago in an auditorium filled only with white children, teachers, and parents.
Beverly A. Taylpr from United States
Comment 2 of 3, added on June 10th, 2005 at 10:07 PM.
My mother a descendant of slaves from Tennessee, loved Paul Laurence Dunbar's works, and especially this poem. It was recited and read to us children on those cold nights in Minnesota many times. Now I have a collection and still read them.
Addison from United States
Comment 1 of 3, added on June 5th, 2005 at 10:27 PM.
My father used to stretch me out across his chest as he lay on the big, worn sofa in our living room and, my face close to his, recite this poem. I can hear his gentle baritone voice in every word. I do not know in what context he, an Irish Catholic Tennessean, committed the poem to memory; but in my mind, I was the little brown baby, and I feel my father's love in its cadence, its beauty and its message.
M. Roses from United States
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Comments
At 52, I was recently reminiscing with my mother about a talent show that my second grade teacher put me in. I represented my grade and recited this poem which she had taught me. I only remembered a few of the words, and they are a bit different than what I looked up tonight to find on the internet. I remember saying, "Little Brown Baby with tears in yo eyes.....what you been a doing,there suh? Makin mudpies? Come to yo pappy and sit on his knee....I remember dramatizing the poem with dialect and being told my teacher I was talented. I did follow this oratorical path for a time; however ultimately ended up in social work and being a believer in social justice. I commented to my mother how offensive this poem would be, and wondered if I should feel guilty for dramatizing it. She reassured me, "You were just a little girl, and it was the teacher who coached you to do the poem." I dont know where the poem came from, but my teacher was Ms. Lucille Jones in Lawton, Oklahoma. I felt I had found an old lost friend in a way to find the poem tonight some 39 years later, and hoped my elementary citation honored Mr. Dunbar in some strange way all those years ago in an auditorium filled only with white children, teachers, and parents.
Beverly A. Taylpr from United States