During the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the African American population still felt the aftermath of slavery through the beliefs and actions of the white societies. During slavery African Americans were dehumanized, looked upon as property, and treated worse than animals. Furthermore, slaves were denied the right to life, forced to work endlessly, and suffered abuse from their masters. However, slavery ended in 1865 and yet Africans are still suffering from the entrapment of society. Paul Laurence Dunbar’s "Sympathy", written in 1899 gives the reader a comparison between the life of a caged bird and the African Americans throughout history. Dunbar uses vivid langua