Paul Laurence Dunbar | |
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 Dunbar, circa 1890 | |
| Born | June 27, 1872 Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | February 9, 1906 (aged 33) Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, novelist, short story writer |
| Spouse | Alice Ruth Moore |
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Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school's literary society.
Dunbar's popularity increased rapidly after his work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with Harper's Weekly. Dunbar became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. In addition to his poems, short stories, and novels, he also wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African-American musical produced on Broadway in New York. The musical later toured in the United States and the United Kingdom. Suffering from tuberculosis, which then had no cure, Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 33.
Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the "Negro dialect" associated with the antebellum South, though he also used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley.[1] Dunbar also wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels and is considered the first important African American sonnet writer.[2][page needed] Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works.
- ^ Corrothers, James David. In Spite of the Handicap: An Autobiography. George H. Doran Company, 1916, pp. 143–147.
- ^ Robbins, Hollis (2020). Forms of Contention: Influence and the African American Sonnet Tradition. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-5764-5.