Alice Dunbar-Nelson -- who also wrote as Alice Ruth Moore, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, and Alice Dunbar Nelson -- was an African American woman writer at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. Her life and writing provide insight into the culture in which she lived. Here are some recommended books by or about Alice Dunbar-Nelson, for pleasure or for research projects -- any bibliography on Alice Dunbar-Nelson should include most of these writings, many still available. (See profile: Alice Dunbar-Nelson)
1. The Works of Alice Dunbar-Nelson
edited by Gloria T. Hull, Oxford University Press, 1988. A collection of Dunbar-Nelson's own writings -- she not only wrote a few novels and published some anthologies of others' writings, but published her own stories and poems extensively in periodicals.
2. Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow: The Tragic Courtship and Marriage of ...
...Paul Lawrence Dunbar and Alice Ruth Moore: A History of Love and Violence Among the African-American Elite, New York University Press, 2002, by Eleanor Alexander. This excellent study of the volatile relationship of two turn-of-the-century African American writers is also an interesting study of the culture in which they lived. Also in hardcover.3. Give Us Each Day: The Diary of Alice Dunbar-Nelson
edited and with introduction by Gloria T. Hull, Norton, 1984. One of only two diaries published by black women of the era, this journal of Alice Dunbar-Nelson is a view of early 20th century black culture, and especially of the black literary circles in which Dunbar-Nelson was a key figure.4. The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Stories
Early stories by Alice Dunbar-Moore, then writing as Alice Dunbar, published at the end of the 19th century.5. The Dunbar Speaker and Entertainer: Containing the Best ...
...Prose and Poetic Selections, with introduction by Akahsa Hull, G. K. Hall, 1996. A republication of Dunbar-Mill's 1920 work of authors of the time.