Ink Atlas

The Strength of Gideon and Other Stories

by Paul Laurence Dunbar · 1900

Historical Fiction · Classics

Short stories of Black life in the South and the North, by the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The title story follows Gideon, a freed man who has to decide where his loyalties lie.

Content note: Written around the turn of the twentieth century, this book uses the language of its time, including racial terms that are outdated and offensive today, and describes racism.

13 chapters

A look inside

There was joy in the bosom of Ben Raymond. He sang as he hoed in the field. He cheerfully worked overtime and his labors did not make him tired. When the quitting horn blew he executed a double shuffle as he shouldered his hoe and started for his cabin. While the other men dragged wearily over the ground he sprang along as if all day long he had not been bending over the hoe in the hot sun, with the sweat streaming from his face in rivulets.

And this had been going on for two months now—two happy months—ever since Viney had laid her hand in his, had answered with a coquettish "Yes," and the master had given his consent, his blessing and a five-dollar bill.

It had been a long and trying courtship—that is, it had been trying for Ben, because Viney loved pleasure and hungered for attention and the field was full of rivals. She was a merry girl and a pretty one. No one could dance better; no girl on the place was better able to dress her dark charms to advantage or to show them off more temptingly.

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