The heart of happy hollow A collection of stories

"The Heart of Happy Hollow" by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a collection of stories written in the late 19th century. The book depicts the lives and experiences of African Americans in a small Southern town, exploring themes such as community, identity, and the challenges of social and racial dynamics. Through a range of characters and narratives, Dunbar highlights the resilience, humor, and complexity of their lives. The opening of the collection introduces the setting of Happy Hollow, a place symbolically representing the African American experience, where joy and sorrow coexist. Dunbar outlines various incidents and characters that illustrate the daily lives, aspirations, and struggles of the community. He begins with the story of Robinson Asbury, a barber who rises to political prominence but faces challenges and betrayals as he navigates the intersection of race and power in politics. This sets a tone that blends social commentary with personal narratives, suggesting that the stories to follow will further explore these themes through the lives of other characters in Happy Hollow. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school's literary society.