The Biographical Dictionary of America/Dunbar, Paul Laurence

DUNBAR, Paul Laurence, poet, was born in Dayton, Ohio, June 27, 1872; son of Joshua and Matilda (Burton) Dunbar, and grandson of Eliza Black. His parents were full-blooded negroes, his father having escaped from slavery in Kentucky, and his mother having been freed from bondage by the events of the civil war. Paul was graduated from the Dayton high school in 1891 and engaged in journalism. In March, 1896, he became a messenger in the Montgomery county, Ohio, court of common pleas, and in October, 1897, he entered the library of congress, Washington, D.C., as assistant. He was married, March 6, 1898, to Alice Ruth Moore of New Orleans, La. From his early childhood he showed literary talent, and during his high school course he was editor of the school paper, into whose columns many of his first writings found their way. His poems attracted the attention and admiration of James Whitcomb Riley and William Dean Howells, the latter using his influence to bring the young poet before the public. He is said to be the first negro poet to write in the English language. His published works include: Oak and Ivy (1892); Majors and Minors (1895); Lyrics of a Lowly Life (1896); Folks from Dixie (1898); The Uncalled (1898); and Lyrics of the Hearth-Side (1899).