Alice Dunbar Nelson: Creole Poet and Renaissance Woman
Alice Moore Dunbar Nelson was born in New Orleans in 1875 to Patricia and Joseph Moore and raised in the Creole culture of the Crescent City. Her childhood in New Orleans is described by scholars as humble; however the precocious and fair-skinned daughter of a former slave rose to become one of the most important figures of the Harlem Renaissance (Gates 936). From early on in her life, she exhibited varied interests and aptitudes at the cello, mandolin, and violin; as well as writing and acting (Gates et al. 936). In 1892 she graduated from Straight University (now Dillard) and began a career as a teacher in the school system of New Orleans. By 1895 she had published her first volume of short stories and poems entitled Violets and Other Tales . She achieved local recognition for her poetry, which garnered her the affectionate attentions of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. It was the common subject of poetry that precipitated an ongoing correspondence between Alice Moore and the accomp...