Multicultural Identity Test Essay Questions

1) At South Philly High School, who is wearing “The Mask” from our poem? OR, who has taken "The Mask" off?  Explain.

2) Choose 1 of the following essays to write about:

    a) If you were the principal at the diverse South Philadelphia High School, would you encourage a discussion about race and culture within the school? Why or why not?

    b) Did the violence at South Philly High stem from racism or culture or both?  Explain. What would be the difference?

  Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

           
We Wear the Mask

    WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.

 

Why should the world be over-wise,
    In counting all our tears and sighs?
    Nay, let them only see us, while
            We wear the mask.

 

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
    To thee from tortured souls arise.
    We sing, but oh the clay is vile
    Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
    But let the world dream otherwise,

            We wear the mask!