Paul Laurence Dunbar

Biography

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was an African American poet, novelist, and short story writer, one of the first nationally acclaimed Black poets in the United States. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved, he began writing as a teenager and achieved fame with Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896). Dunbar wrote in both standard English and African American dialect, and his dialect poems, while popular with white audiences, sometimes drew criticism for reinforcing stereotypes. His novels and standard-English poetry addressed racial injustice more directly. He died of tuberculosis at age 33, having produced a remarkable body of work.