Paul Laurence Dunbar

Born on June 27 of 1872, Paul Laurence Dunbar was a poet born to parents whom were once slaves, and was the first African-American poet to be nationally recognized. A lyrical prodigy, Dunbar’s first poems were published in the Dayton Herald when he was only 14.

Unfortunately, due to financial issues, Dunbar was unable to attend college, and worked as an elevator operator after graduating from Central High School, where he was one of only a couple of African-American student enrolled. He was also classmates with Orville and Wilbur Wright. While working his meager job, he would sell his self-published poetry collection Oak and Ivy (1893) for a dollar to whoever rides his elevator. During that year, he also befriended Frederick Douglass at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition, who helped him increase his public recognition. According to Douglass, Dunbar was “the most promising young colored man in America.”

Two years later, his poems would be found in major magazines and newspapers, and he would publish his second collection, Majors and Minors. The poems in the collection written in English were considered “Majors” (e.g.We Wear the Mask), and the poems written in Negro dialect were “Minors” (e.g. A Warm Day in Winter. Though most of the poems were in standard English, the poetry Dunbar wrote in Negro dialect gained the most attention, due to their uniqueness.

After Dunbar’s rise to fame, he went on to write up Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896), Lyrics of the Hearthside, and Poems of Cabin and Field (1899); as well as his short story collection Folks From Dixie.

Dunbar died from Tuberculosis on February 9, 1906 at the age of 33.