 Paul
Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American poet to garner national
critical acclaim. Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, Dunbar penned a large
body of dialect poems, standard English poems, essays, novels and short
stories before he died at the age of 33. His work often addressed the
difficulties encountered by members of his race and the efforts of African-Americans
to achieve equality in America. He was praised both by the prominent literary
critics of his time and his literary contemporaries. Dunbar was born on
June 27, 1872, to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar, both natives of Kentucky.
His mother was a former slave and his father had escaped from slavery
and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts
Colored Calvary Regiment during the Civil War. Matilda and Joshua had
two children before separating in 1874. Matilda also had two children
from a previous marriage. The family was poor, and after Joshua left,
Matilda supported her children by working in Dayton as a washerwoman.
One of the families she worked for was the family of Orville and Wilbur
Wright, with whom her son attended Dayton's Central High School. Though
the Dunbar family had little material wealth, Matilda, always a great
support to Dunbar as his literary stature grew, taught her children a
love of songs and storytelling. Having heard poems read by the family
she worked for when she was a slave, Matilda loved poetry and encouraged
her children to read. Dunbar was inspired by his mother, and he began
reciting and writing poetry as early as age 6. Dunbar was the only African-American
in his class at Dayton Central High, and while he often had difficulty
finding employment because of his race, he rose to great heights in school.
He was a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper and
president of the school's literary society. He also wrote for Dayton community
newspapers. He worked as an elevator operator in Dayton's Callahan Building
until he established himself locally and nationally as a writer. He published
an African-American newsletter in Dayton, the Dayton Tattler, with help
from the Wright brothers. His first public reading was on his birthday
in 1892. A former teacher arranged for him to give the welcoming address
to the Western Association of Writers when the organization met in Dayton.
James Newton Matthews became a friend of Dunbar's and wrote to an Illinois
paper praising Dunbar's work. The letter was reprinted in several papers
across the country, and the accolade drew regional attention to Dunbar;
James Whitcomb Riley, a poet whose works were written almost entirely
in dialect, read Matthew's letter and acquainted himself with Dunbar's
work. With literary figures beginning to take notice, Dunbar decided to
publish a book of poems. Oak and Ivy, his first collection, was published
in 1892. Though his book was received well locally, Dunbar still had to
work as an elevator operator to help pay off his debt to his publisher.
He sold his book for a dollar to people who rode the elevator. As more
people came in contact with his work, however, his reputation spread.
In 1893, he was invited to recite at the World's Fair, where he met Frederick
Douglass, the renowned abolitionist who rose from slavery to political
and literary prominence in America. Douglass called Dunbar "the most promising
young colored man in America." Dunbar moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1895,
with help from attorney Charles A. Thatcher and psychiatrist Henry A.
Tobey. Both were fans of Dunbar's work, and they arranged for him to recite
his poems at local libraries and literary gatherings. Tobey and Thatcher
also funded the publication of Dunbar's second book, Majors and Minors.
It was Dunbar's second book that propelled him to national fame. William
Dean Howells, a novelist and widely respected literary critic who edited
Harper's Weekly, praised Dunbar's book in one of his weekly columns and
launched Dunbar's name into the most respected literary circles across
the country. A New York publishing firm, Dodd Mead and Co., combined Dunbar's
first two books and published them as Lyrics of a Lowly Life. The book
included an introduction written by Howells. In 1897, Dunbar traveled
to England to recite his works on the London literary circuit. His national
fame had spilled across the Atlantic. After returning from England, Dunbar
married Alice Ruth Moore, a young writer, teacher and proponent of racial
and gender equality who had a master's degree from Cornell University.
Dunbar took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He found
the work tiresome, however, and it is believed the library's dust contributed
to his worsening case of tuberculosis. He worked there for only a year
before quitting to write and recite full time. In 1902, Dunbar and his
wife separated. Depression stemming from the end of his marriage and declining
health drove him to a dependence on alcohol, which further damaged his
health. He continued to write, however. He ultimately produced 12 books
of poetry, four books of short stories, a play and five novels. His work
appeared in Harper's Weekly, the Sunday Evening Post, the Denver Post,
Current Literature and a number of other magazines and journals. He traveled
to Colorado and visited his half-brother in Chicago before returning to
his mother in Dayton in 1904. He died there on Feb. 9, 1906. |