Black History Month

Paul Lawrence Dunbar Poet (1872-1906) Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was born, as was described in his day, a “pure black” that is, both his mother and father were known not to have white ancestors. Dunbar’s father escaped from slavery in Kentucky to freedom in Canada, while his mother was freed by the events of the civil war, and came North to Ohio, where they met, and where their son was born at Dayton. Dunbar’s father picked up the trade of a plasterer, and taught himself to read, his love was history. His mother shared his father’s passion for literature, and her love was poetry. Even while attending school, he received considerable praise around Dayton for his inventiveness with poetry and fiction. Notable schoolmates were the Wright Brothers, the inventors of the airplane, with whom Dunbar remained friends with for life. Wright State University in Dayton has an extraordinarily large collection of Dunbar’s papers. There is a Class of 1890, Central High School photo with Dunbar and Orville Wright. Though Dunbar was 20 and operating an elevator when his first two works, “Oak” and “Ivy” (1892), was published, he already had a reputation in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. An invitation to recite at the 1893 World’s Fair introduced him to Frederick Douglass, who was in charge of the Haitian exhibit. Douglas gave Dunbar a job, and later said that he considered Dunbar to be “the most promising young colored man in America.” However, they did not reach the national scene. “Majors and Minors” was soon published in 1895, and caught the attention of the famous literary critic William Dean Howells. Howells’ favorable review in “Harper’s weekly” made Dunbar a national figure overnight. “Lyrics of a Lowly Life” (1896), a combination of the first two books a published with an introduction by Howells, awarded him a national reputation and enabled him to concentrate upon literary career. Dunbar was called the greatest Negro poet since Russia’s Pushkin and France’s Dumas, both of whose “white blood” was said to be responsible for their abilities. Upon his return from a recitation tour of England, Dunbar married another young writer, Alice Ruth Moore of New Orleans, and took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (1897-98). He was invited to rude in the inaugural parade of William Mckinley, a nearly unheard of honor. However, the tedious work was not to his liking, and the dust of the library aggravated a steadily worsening case of tuberculosis. Less than a year after taking the job, Dunbar quit the Library of Congress. Although he was supposed to rest, Dunbar devoted all his time to writhing and giving recitals. His first three novels including The Uncalled (1898), which reflected his own spiritual problems were about white characters. His last, sometimes considered his best, was “The Sport of the Gods” (1902), concerning an uprooted black family in the urban North Suffering from tuberculosis, Dunbar’s life was short. Inspite of his illness, Dunbar wrote prose as well as poetry until his early death at the age of 34. His Complete Poems was published in 1913, seven years after his death.