On July 12, 1903, a teacher training program was in session at the Hampton Institute, a Virginia school that taught job skills to African Americans. One of the participants was Alice Moore Dunbar, who had permanently separated from her husband Paul Laurence Dunbar the previous year.
The five hundred colored teachers from every part of the South who are attending the summer school give up their class work for this conference in order to get some glimpse of the broader meaning of their work.
"The Hampton Negro Conference." The Southern Workman (Hampton, Virginia). August 1903. Page 357.
Also attending was Edwina B. Kruse, principal of Howard High School in Wilmington, Delaware. Alice was a teacher at Howard and had a close relationship with Edwina. During the training program, Alice made a presentation about English Composition and Edwina led a session on Home Cooking.
Dr. Bruce Evans is principal of the summer school and he is fully capable of handling five or six hundred of the best known teachers throughout the United States, who are attending the summer school at the Institute. Many interesting papers were read and discussed. Among those present were . . .
Mesdames Paul Laurence Dunbar, Chestnut, Johnson
Miss E. B. Kruse
"Our Trip to Hampton. What the Colored People are Doing South," by William Calvin Chase. The Washington Bee (Washington, D. C.). July 25, 1903. Page 1.
The earnestness with which most of these student-teachers avail themselves of the opportunities here offered to fit themselves for better educational work may be taken as a fair indication of the improvement that is steadily going on in the rural common schools. The list of studies includes . . .
English Composition by Miss Emily A. Harper and Mrs. Alice R. Dunbar
Home Cooking by Miss Edwina B. Kruse
"Hampton Incidents." The Southern Workman (Hampton, Virginia). July 1903. Page 393.
After Paul and Alice separated, she never communicated with him again. However, a business associate wrote Paul a letter that included a veiled reference to Alice. He pointed out that Alice and Edwina had not yet returned to Delaware, even though the teacher training session ended weeks earlier.
I have been in Atlantic City, which I found very dull this season. After returning, I took a run to Wilmington and spent a night. Mrs. Kruse and her friend were out of town. They were in Hampton, but where they were after that I do not know, but they have not returned to Wilmington yet.
Edmund B. Taylor to Paul Laurence Dunbar, September 4, 1903. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
In later years, Alice and Edwina continued to travel together: to Washington, D. C. in 1904; Ithaca, New York, in 1907; and New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1908.
Mrs. Paul Laurence Dunbar, Miss Mabel Brooks and Miss Kruse, teachers in the schools of Wilmington, Del., are enjoying their spring holidays in this city.
"Washington: The City of Magnificent Distances." The Appeal (St. Paul, Minnesota). May 14, 1904. Page 2.
Monday I cut afternoon class and went picnicking. Mr. Singleton got a big three-seated affair, and we went for a drive. He and Mrs. S., a Mrs. Jackson and her niece, Miss Kruse and myself. We started at three and got back at nine and I am sure he covered every inch of land in Tompkins County.
Alice Moore Dunbar to Patricia Wright Moore and Mary Leila Moore Young. August 4, 1907. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 6).
My dear warm overheated tired child, you ought to be here way down south where you could keep cool. I do not know what the weather will be by the time you reach here but for the past two or three weeks we have had the most delightful weather imaginable. I am glad that you are getting packed up and starting things off. Well, we will all be glad to see you when you do come.
Edwina B. Kruse to Alice Moore Dunbar. June 11, 1908. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 9).