In the late 19th century, African Americans suffered pain, frustration, and anguish caused by Caucasians, as well as by each other. For African Americans to openly express the violence they have experienced at the hands of Caucasians would have dangerous consequences. Sometimes, African Americans hid their true feelings because they didn't want to be judged or cause an uproar. So they remained silent and let all this happen to them, Paul Laurence Dunbar helps all those who have lost their voice due to violence to find it again, in his poem "We Wear the Mask". “We Wear the Mask” written by Paul Laurence Dunbar was made with African-Americans in mind. At that time, African Americans were treated so badly that they were like animals. Some were beaten to death while others were abused. They had limited rights because many Caucasians did not consider other minorities to be of equal status. Dunbar's poetry shows the internal emotions of African Americans such as anger, fear, and sadness. He uses metaphors to explain what cannot be said in words because most African Americans do not want to seem weak. So they hide their emotions behind a mask that seems to be happy with everything. The poem begins with Dunbar using the word “WE.” He used this word twice, once in the title and once in the first line of the poem, so this word means something. The audience quickly understands that Dunbar uses "WE" to represent the entire black population. He does this to show awareness of the social and political status of his race. Dunbar goes on to say, “WE wear the mask that smiles and lies, / hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.” He stated how his people wanted to cry and scream on the outside and show some kind of emotion but…. .. middle of paper.... ..ng their true form so as to hide it To try to avoid explaining to people who they really are or so people don't look beyond to see the truth self to others generally lies for personal gain. Here, however, the individual wearing the mask suffers only because of the lie. We pretend to be someone in which we do not have to fit in, not be judged or believe that our voices matter we try to put on a brave face and pass ourselves off as “normal” to be accepted by others. Late 19th century African Americans didn't feel like they had important voices and opinions that anyone would listen to so they assumed they kept smiling and to act as if nothing was happening. Some people don't realize how much pain they feel trying to transform themselves into what society wants them to be.