Paul Laurence Dunbar: Life, Works, and Legacy

FAIN: AKB-270197-20

University of Dayton (Dayton, OH 45469-0001)
Minnita Daniel-Cox (Project Director: September 2019 to present)
Ju Shen (Co Project Director: March 2020 to present)
Jennifer Speed (Co Project Director: March 2020 to present)

A three-year interdisciplinary curricular implementation grant focused on the life, works, and legacy of writer Paul Laurence Dunbar.

The University of Dayton and partners seek support from NEH to develop new curriculum and place-based experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students from all backgrounds around the theme of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the Dayton native and preeminent African American writer. We will develop of a set of linked courses that can explore the breadth of Dunbar’s life, context, works, and influence. These include courses from multiple fields that will incorporate significant humanities subject material, pedagogy, and habits of inquiry, as well as humanities courses that will integrate other disciplines. UD will introduce digital humanities tools and methods of inquiry to students and educators as a means of broadening engagement with the humanities. The project will also develop new experiential learning opportunities that make use of extant, but hard-to-discover Dunbar sources and artifacts, and create connections with the places associated with his life and works.