Celebrate Dunbar! Partners
Arts Center Foundation
Central State University
Dayton Assn. for the Study of
African American Life & History
Dayton Aviation Heritage
National Historical Park
Dayton Contemporary
Dance Company
Dayton Opera Association
Doris L. Allen Minority Caucus of
the Dayton Educ. Assn.
Dream Keeper Theatre Company
Dunbar House
Ebonnia Gallery
Muse Machine
National Afro-American Museum
and Cultural Center
Paul Laurence Dunbar
High School
Reggie Evans, composer
Sinclair Community College
University of Dayton
Victoria Theatre Association
Wright Dunbar Inc.
Wright State University
(Feb. 3, 2006)
GRAVESIDE TRIBUTE
In honor of Dayton poet Paul Laurence Dunbar on the centennial of his death, school children and local dignitaries will gather at Dunbar's grave at the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, 118 Woodland Ave., at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9, for a graveside tribute. A procession to the grave begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Woodland Mausoleum, but buses also will be available.
Since 1989, Dunbar aficionados have been paying tribute to the poet's legacy with music, song and poetry at his grave on Feb. 9. The event has grown from five people to about 500. It's free and open to the public.
This year's tribute will include the unveiling of a Civil War-era headstone for Elizebeth Florence Dunbar, the poet's sister, who died of malnutrition at the age of 2. She's currently buried without a marker in the Potter's Field section at Woodland Cemetery. Tim Beatty, director of the Dunbar High School band, will play ''Taps,'' and the Dunbar High School Color Guard will raise a special ''Oak and Ivy'' flag that will hang permanently at the grave site.
Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin will serve as mistress of ceremonies for the tribute, which also will include remarks by G. Edwin Zeiders, president of United Theological Seminary; a prayer by the Rev. Ronald Glenn, pastor of Wayman Chapel A.M.E. Church; the recitation of the poem ''To a Dead Friend'' by Mitchell Capel, a nationally known interpreter of Dunbar's works; and the placing of a wreath on the grave by Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams.
A reception in the Woodland Cemetery Mausoleum will follow the 20-minute ceremony. School children will recite Dunbar's poems and sing. Later that evening, a commemorative dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Dayton Engineers Club, 110 E. Monument Ave. Capel and the Central State University Choir will present ''Dunbar … 100 Years Ago Today!" It's sponsored by the Dunbar House State Memorial. Tickets, which cost $30, are still available. Call (937) 443-0249.
The events are part of Celebrate Dunbar!, a yearlong community-wide tribute to Dunbar, the first African-American poet to garner national critical acclaim.
For information on the graveside tribute, contact Denise Darling, director of Woodland Foundation, at 224-7116 or LaVerne Sci, director of the Dunbar House State Memorial, at (937) 224-7061. For more on Celebrate Dunbar!, see www.celebratedunbar.org.
