| Paul Laurence Dunbar |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR | |
| 1872 births | |
| 1906 deaths | |
| african american novelists | |
| african american poets | |
| deaths by tuberculosis | |
| howard university alumni | |
| ohio writers | |
| people from dayton, ohio | |
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Paul Laurence Dunbar ( June 27 , 1872 – February 9 , 1906 ) was a seminal American Poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 ''Lyrics of a Lowly Life'', one poem in the collection being Ode To Ethiopia . BIOGRAPHY Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had escaped from slavery; his father was a veteran of the American Civil War , having served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment. His parents instilled in him a love of learning and history. He was the only black student at Dayton Central High School and he participated actively as a student. During college, he was both the editor of the school newspaper and class president, as well as the president of the school literary society. He wrote his first poem at age 6 and gave his first public recital at age 9. Dunbar's first published work came in a newspaper put out by his high school friends Wilbur And Orville Wright , who owned a printing plant. The Wright Brothers later invested in the ''Dayton Tattler'', a Newspaper aimed at the black community, edited and published by Dunbar. His first collection of poetry, ''Oak and Ivy'', was published in 1892 and attracted the attention of James Whitcomb Riley , the popular "Hoosier Poet". Both Riley and Dunbar wrote poems in both standard English and dialect. His second book, ''Majors and Minors'' (1895) brought him national fame and the patronage of William Dean Howells , the Novelist and Critic and editor of ''Harper's Weekly''. After Howells' praise, his first two books were combined as ''Lyrics of a Lowly Life'' and Dunbar started on a career of international literary fame. He moved to Washington, D.C., in the Le Droit Park neighborhood. While in Washington, he attended Howard University . His wife Alice Dunbar-Nelson was a famous poet as well. A graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans , her most famous works include a short story entitled "Violets". She and her husband also wrote books of poetry as companion pieces. An account of their love, life and marriage was depicted in a play by Kathleen McGhee-Anderson titled ''Oak and Ivy]].http://bestof.riverfronttimes.com/2001-02-14/culture/color-bind/ He kept a lifelong friendship with the Wrights, and was also associated with . He wrote a dozen books of poetry, four books of short stories, five novels, and a play. His essays and poems were published widely in the leading journals of the day. His work appeared in '' Harper's Weekly '', the '' Saturday Evening Post '', the '' Denver Post '', ''Current Literature'' and a number of other publications. During his life, considerable emphasis was laid on the fact that Dunbar was of pure black descent, with no white ancestors. Dunbar's work is known for its colorful language and use of dialect, and a conversational tone, with a brilliant rhetorical structure. Dunbar traveled to England in 1897 to recite his works on the London literary circuit. He met the brilliant young black composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who set some of his poems to music and who was influenced by Dunbar to use African and American Negro songs and tunes in future compositions. After his return, Dunbar took a job at the Library Of Congress in Washington. In 1900, Dunbar was diagnosed with Tuberculosis , and moved to Colorado with his wife on the advice of his doctors. Dunbar died at age thirty-three on February 9, 1906, and was interred in the Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio . |
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