By Susan Robinson

Paul Laurence Dunbar  
1872 – 1906

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio.  Both of his parents had been born in slavery in Kentucky; his father, Joshua Dunbar, had escaped from slavery to live in Canada but had returned to the United States to enlist in the Union Army and fight in the Civil War.  Dunbar’s mother, Matilda, was a literate woman who told her children stories of life in the old South and encouraged them to obtain an education.  Joshua and Matilda Dunbar separated in 1874, and Matilda Dunbar supported her children by doing laundry in Dayton; one of the families she worked for was the family of Orville and Wilbur Wright. 

Paul attended school with the Wright brothers; despite being the only African American student in his class at Dayton’s Central High School, he distinguished himself academically and was elected president of the school’s literary society.  He also became the editor of the school newspaper, and belonged to the debate team.  He began to write poetry, and his mother encouraged him. 

Dunbar graduated from Central High in 1891.  Because he was Black, his employment opportunities were limited, and his mother had no means to send him to college.  He found employment as an elevator operator in an office building, and in his spare time wrote articles for community newspapers.  With help from his friends the Wright brothers, who operated a printing press, Dunbar also published a newsletter, the Daily Tattler, for Dayton’s African American community.  All the while, he wrote poetry.

He submitted his poetry to various publications, and a few were accepted.  In 1892 Dunbar had an opportunity to read some of his work publicly, at the Western Association of Writers Conference which met in Dayton that year; one of Dunbar’s former teachers arranged for him to participate by giving the welcoming address to the conference.  Some established writers noticed Dunbar’s talent, including poet James Whitcomb Riley, and their praise for his work began to spread.  Later the same year, Dunbar published his first book of poetry, Oak and Ivy, but most of the copies sold were bought by people who knew him from riding the elevator where he worked. 

The following year, in 1893, Dunbar was invited to recite some of his poetry at the World’s Fair.  At the Fair, he met Frederick Douglass, who was impressed by his talent.  In 1895, Dunbar published his second collection of poems, called Majors and Minors.  This time, his reputation had preceded him and Majors and Minors was a national success.  The accolades came rolling in from the literary community around the country, and Dunbar was asked to go to England to read his poetry and promote his books there, as well.   

Upon his return he married Alice Ruth Moore, a poet and teacher, who had a master’s degree from Cornell University.  They moved to Washington, D.C., and Dunbar took a position in the Library of Congress, while he continued to write.  His first novel, The Uncalled, was published in 1898. 

Dunbar’s poetry achieved success among both Black and White audiences.  He wrote poetry in standard English as well as “dialect”; at the time there was something of a fad for White writers to write poetry or song lyrics that they thought represented the way that African Americans spoke (lots of “de’s” and “dat’s” and “Hesh you mouf” “Tek up de cross!”, etc.)  While Dunbar was brilliantly capable of writing fine poetry in standard English, he found that “dialect” poetry sold better to White audiences, and their continued enthusiasm was financially necessary.  Dunbar did encounter some criticism for writing dialect poetry, because many African Americans agreed that this sort of thing perpetuated stereotypes.  However, Dunbar did express that he, as an African American man, could be in a better position to represent Black people’s sentiments and feelings to White audiences than the White writers who were trying to do the same thing, but had no basis for their representations of Blacks, other than the stereotypes they were themselves perpetuating.     

But Paul Laurence Dunbar was not a healthy young man.  He had tuberculosis, and some sources say that the dust he encountered working in the Library of Congress made his condition worse.  He resigned from the position after about a year, to write and lecture full-time.  He traveled around southern states to encourage schoolchildren to become writers to express themselves.