Basic Information

Alice Dunbar-Nelson was born Alice Ruth Moore on July 19, 1875, in New Orleans, Louisiana (Miller, 2020). She was a Black writer, educator, and political activist who was highly involved in the women’s suffrage movement and an advocate of equality for Black women (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024; Miller, 2020). She left a lasting legacy in both literature and social justice that can be seen in her literary works and documented in her personal scrapbook that highlights her suffrage campaigning (Dunbar-Nelson, 1915; Garvey, 2016; Miller, 2020).

Background Information

Dunbar-Nelson was of mixed descent and born during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in the South. Her mother, Patsy Wright Moore, was a formerly enslaved African American seamstress, and differing sources state that her father was either unknown or a Creole seaman (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024; Miller, 2020). Dunbar-Nelson was positioned in society within multiple identity categories that played a role in shaping both her personal experiences and works. She attended Straight University, a historically Black institution in New Orleans, and began her career as an elementary school teacher (Miller, 2020). She began her literary career in 1895, influenced by her own experiences as a Creole woman and submitted some of her early work to a local newspaper that was not well received (Miller, 2020). Despite the harsh criticism she received, she was undeterred in pursuing a literary career. In 1898 she married a well-known writer, Paul Laurence Dunbar (Miller, 2020). During this marriage, she experienced issues that would impact her life and influence her future. She suffered abuse at the hands of her husband, and they separated in 1902 after six years of marriage (Miller, 2020). Paul Laurence Dunbar died of tuberculosis four years later and Dunbar-Nelson maintained the rights to many of his works. She was able to achieve literary success both during and after her marriage to Paul. Of her many of acclaimed poems and short stories, two of the most popular were “Stones of the Village” and “Little Miss Sophie” (Miller, 2020, para. 5).  After her separation, she also relocated from the South to Delaware where she had a brief marriage to a fellow schoolteacher that lasted less than a year (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024). In 1916, she married Robert J. Nelson, who was a poet and civil rights activist, taking the name Dunbar-Nelson from that point forward (Miller, 2020). Around this time in her life is when she became active in political activism and her literary work shifted from poetry and short stories to essays and journalism that addressed the social issues that she advocated for (Miller, 2020).

Contributions to the First Wave

As a Black feminist, Dunbar-Nelson was extremely active in the early twentieth century. She used grassroots organizing, lectures, and writing to help advance the First Wave feminist movement, particularly for Black women who faced systemic exclusion from mainstream political movements that involved white women and both Black and white men. Dunbar-Nelson’s suffrage work was rooted in community organizing and political advocacy. This can be seen in Scrapbook No. 3, a personal scrapbook crafted by Dunbar-Nelson in 1915 that contains numerous newspaper clippings and correspondence documenting many of the lectures she gave in 1915 (Dunbar, 1915).

Dunbar-Nelson was active in many different organizations. She was a member of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) (Green, 2010/2011, p. 128). She was the secretary of the organization under then president, Mary Church Terrell (Green, 2010/2011, p. 128). Dunbar-Nelson was also the Newspaper and Current Events chairperson for the Phillis Wheatley Club sales agent for the parent club’s monthly newspaper, the Woman’s Era, “which targeted ‘women of the refined and educated classes’ and was the first newspaper published for and by African American women” (Green, 2010/2011, p. 127). She also participated in the NAACP’s campaign against screenings of Birth of a Nation

Dunbar-Nelson used these activist platforms to bring awareness to Black women and the issues that were affecting them on multiple fronts. Her efforts were not solely about gaining access to the ballot but also about preparing Black women to use it effectively. She understood that the right to vote without political literacy could yield more of the same oppression that they were already facing. In her 1920 speech, Urges Free Ballot for Colored Women, Dunbar-Nelson emphasized this very point, saying, “Plans are now in the making to get in touch with the women in Kent and Sussex counties, and we expect in a short time to hold a meeting… It is the intention to get out literature to instruct our women in the method of balloting, and to give general advice, so that our vote will be a help, not a hindrance to the state” (Dunbar-Nelson, 1920).

Her oratory skills made a significant impact as a regular speaker on the women’s suffrage lecture circuit. She was able to draw large crowds on a regular basis that filled gymnasiums and auditoriums, which resulted in positive press headlines such as those seen in her Scrapbook No. 3, like “Mrs. Dunbar made strong argument for equal suffrage” (1915, p. 16). In that same article, part of her argument is quoted where she said, “you see the girls of today in my race are better fitted to use the ballot than the men, because they have been educated and have learned to think about modern questions” (Dunbar, 1915, p. 16). This again speaks to her contributions to the First Wave and how she advocated for women of color.

“When the Negro woman finds that the future of her children lies in her own hands—if she can be made to see this—she will strike off the political shackles she has allowed to be hung upon her, and win the economic freedom of her race. “

~ Alice Dunbar-Nelson (Dunbar-Nelson, as cited in Carlisle, 2020)

Analysis and Conclusion

Dunbar-Nelson was highly aware of her positioning in American society as a light-skinned (Black), middle-class, educated woman. She used that awareness to navigate and challenge structures of oppression in American society. Her background and identity were not just the details of her life as laid out in the previous section, but key elements that shaped and influenced how she approached activism, literature, and the world around her. Her activism was rooted in a deep understanding of the double burden faced by Black women and the ways in which race and gender operated simultaneously in American society (Garvey, 2016; Green, 2010/2011; Miller, 2020).

Dunbar-Nelson used writing as a key instrument of activism. Her literary and journalistic work often addressed themes of race, identity, and social justice (Green, 2010/2011). She contributed to African American newspapers and women’s periodicals, using these platforms to speak directly to Black women readers about political engagement and the need for collective action (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024; Dunbar, 1915). Her style of advocacy challenged mainstream societal narratives through essays, short fiction, and lecturing in an effort to bring about reform. This is significant because she was a Black woman advocating for racial and gender reformation in an era when Jim Crow laws and the lack of women’s suffrage made it extremely difficult for African Americans, especially women, to participate in the political sphere of society. She also directly challenged the racism embedded in white suffrage groups that ignored or actively excluded Black women’s concerns by helping lead the charge in a feminist movement that recognized the struggles of both race and gender.

Her work with the NACW, Phillis Wheatley Club, and the NAACP shows that her fight for women’s suffrage was inextricably linked to involvement in the broader civil rights struggle (Dunbar, 1915; Garvey, 2016; Miller, 2020). This broader scope set her apart from many of her contemporaries, who focused more narrowly on the vote as a singular goal rather than part of an ongoing struggle that spilled over into other struggles taking place concurrently. Through her extensive travels, public speeches, and organizational involvement that are documented in her Scrapbook No. 3, she connected with various communities and mixed race and mixed gender crowds focusing on enfranchising Black women, who were often a side note in the mainstream women’s suffrage movement and the struggle for racial equality led by Black men (Dunbar, 1915; Garvey, 2016). She consistently brought their voices into conversations about suffrage, labor rights, and education.  Her understanding of layered oppressions is reflected in her efforts. Dunbar-Nelson’s activism exemplified intersectionality nearly a century before the term was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Her Scrapbook No. 3 illustrates how deliberate she was in cultivating and maintaining her public presence and message. It contains news clippings, articles, event programs, and documentation of her lectures, offering “a record of her experiences as a paid activist and organizer in the women’s suffrage movement of the 1910s” (Garvey, 2016, p. 310). It also shows her awareness of the historical significance of her work and her effort not only to participate in the movement but to preserve her place within it.

Despite her active role in First Wave feminism, Dunbar-Nelson was largely excluded from mainstream narratives of the movement. The more recent interest in her life and legacy through projects like Grace Miller’s work with the Smithsonian in 2020 reflects a growing recognition of the impact made by minority women on feminist history and how their voices were ignored or erased from that history. Dunbar-Nelson’s story is one that may help feminist scholars and researchers reconsider the influence of minority women in the First Wave, reminding us that the struggle for women’s rights was not carried completely on the backs of white middle-class women. It was, instead, a complex and contentious movement, in part shaped by the voices of women like her.

References

Carlisle, L. (2020, August 21). Black women’s fight for suffrage. Atlanta History Center. Retrieved from https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/blog/black-womens-fight-for-suffrage/

Dunbar-Nelson, A. (1915). Scrapbook No. 3. Retrieved from http://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/24348

Dunbar-Nelson, A. (1920, August 22). Urges free ballot for colored women: Mrs. Alice Dunbar-Nelson speaks for enlightened use of the franchise. Alexander Street, part of Clarivate. Retrieved from https://search-alexanderstreet-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3593714?utm_campaign=AlexanderStreet&utm_medium=MARC&utm_source=aspresolver

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2024, January 29). Alice Dunbar Nelson: African-American, poet, activist. In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved April 26, 2025, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Dunbar-Nelson

Garvey, E. G. (2016). Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson’s suffrage work: The view from her scrapbook. Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, 33(2), 310–335. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/44312466/Alice_Moore_Dunbar_Nelsons_Suffrage_Work_The_View_from_Her_Scrapbook

Green, T. T. (2010/2011). Not just Paul’s wife: Alice Dunbar’s literature and activism. The Langston Hughes Review, 24(winter/fall), 125–137. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26434690

Kerlin, R. T. (1923). Alice Dunbar-Nelson [Photograph]. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-1ecd-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Miller, G. (2020, March 12). An unsung legacy: The work and activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson. Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound. Retrieved from https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2020/03/12/an-unsung-legacy-the-work-and-activism-of-alice-dunbar-nelson/