Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton Ohio. He was born to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar who were both natives of Kentucky. Both of Dunbar’s parents were slaves. His father escaped slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Calvary Regiment in the Civil War. The family grew up very poor and after Dunbar’s father left, his mother had to support the two kids from her marriage with Joshua and two from a previous marriage. Matilda worked in Dayton as a washerwoman. Matilda is the one who taught Dunbar to read, and gave great support to him as he continued his literary statue. Dunbar who was inspired by is mother, started writing and reciting poetry at the young age of six. Dunbar was the only African-American in his class at Dayton Central High. He did very well in school becoming a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper, and president of the school’s literary society. He started writing for the Dayton community newspapers as well. As Dunbar’s writing career was beginning he decided to publish a book of poetry, which he called, “Oak and Ivy.” This was his first collection of poetry and he got it published in 1892 at the age of 20. By 1893 his career had started to take off, he was invited to recite at the World’s Fair. This is where he met Frederick Douglass a renowned abolitionist who rose from slavery to political and literary prominence in America. Douglass called Dunbar, “the most promising young colored man in America."
Good page to get started searching on Dunbar's life and a collection of his writings. It also has pictures
Good starting site to find out more about Dunbar, has links for you to explore
Good starting point to learn information about Dunbar
Biography pages of Dunbar
The Life of Paul Laurence Dunbar
A good biography of Dunbar's life
A good site and shows the Chronological order of events in his site with also the jobs he worked
A good site if you just want general background on Dunbar
Paul Laurence Dunbar - The Academy of America...
A site that has a little more on Dunbar's life and has a couple of his poems that you are able to view as well
Dunbar's Work and Poetry
Selected Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
A good site to look at Dunbar's work. Has a lot of his poems at this site
A good site to see the work of Dunbar. Has many of his famous as well as his other poems
Another good site to see Dunbar's poems
A site with a couple of Dunbar's more famous poems
A site with a little bit of background but a great site to see his poems
A cool site that has the famous poem, "We Wear the Mask," and also has a real cool picture
Pages that Talk about the Work
A site just about the work of Dunbar. What he wrote and why.
Good site to find out more about Dunbar, and the site talks about the techiniques he uses to write his poetry.
A good site that talks about the significance of his style and form.
POET HERO: PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
A praise to Dunbar and an explanation why he is so important
Photos of Dunbar
A site with pictures of Dunbar
Good picture of Dunbar and his historical house ans tells aobut him a little bit.
A Page of Praise
A site about another writer showing praise to Dunbar through writing a poem about him
Page done by: Josh Rader