Paul Laurence Dunbar

Race Writer: Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio on June 27, 1872. His mother was a former slave and his father escaped from slavery and joined the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and the 5th Massachusetts Colored Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. Paul’s mother Matilda loved poetry and encouraged her children to read and write. Thanks to this inspiration, Paul began reading and writing poetry around the age of 6.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the only African American at his high school, but did very well for himself being a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper and president of the school's literary society. Though he had trouble finding employment due to his race, Dunbar worked as an elevator operator until he became an established writer. He grew up with Orville and Wilbur Wright and eventually he was able to publish an African American newsletter called Dayton Tattler, with the help of the Wright brothers. Dunbar’s writing addressed the difficulties encountered by the members of his race and their efforts to achieve equality.

The first public reading that Dunbar did was the welcoming address to the Western Association of Writers in 1892. After this reading, literary figures such as poet James Whitcomb Riley and James Newton Matthews began to take notice of his work. Dunbar decided that it was time for him to publish some of his works and his first book of poetry, Oak and Ivy, was published in 1892. In 1893 he was asked to speak at the World’s Fair where he met Fredrick Douglass who later said that Dunbar was "the most promising young colored man in America." Once Dunbar’s second book of poetry was published, Majors and Minors, he really came into the literary light. William Dean Howells, author of The Rise of Silas Lapham, admired Dunbar's book in one of his weekly columns and helped Dunbar's name get into the most respected literary circles of the time in the United States.

Lyrics of a Lowly Life was a collection of both Oak and Ivy and Majors and Minors all in one book. The introduction to this book was written by William Dean Howells and really shed light on how Howell’s felt toward Dunbar’s writing. Howells makes very interesting points throughout the reading saying “I held that if his black poems had been written by a white man, I should not have found them less admirable. I accepted them as an evidence of the essential unity of the human race, which does not think or feel black in one and white in another, but humanly in all.” This is important to really look at because here Howells is saying that the writing would be good no matter what color the person who wrote it was. However, Dunbar was what people called a “race writer” which meant that he was writing to contribute to racial uplift. Does Howells “de-race” Dunbar’s work by saying that it would still be good writing and have the same message if it were to be written by a white person? This was a dilemma of the time period because it was a very touchy subject, do you acknowledge the work as being good for what it is, no matter what color the author is, or do you acknowledge the work for being good work by an African American writer. At the end of the introduction Howells states “He has at least produced something that, however we may critically disagree about it, we cannot well refuse to enjoy; in more than one piece he has produced a work of art.” This is a great compliment that Dunbar receives from one of the top realist writers of the time, that his writing is a “work of art”.

Dunbar became the first African American poet to acquire national critical acclaim and this was a big deal especially for the post civil war era. One poem in particular that really showed how hard African Americans worked toward being free and equal is called A Prayer and says:

"O LORD, the hard-won miles
Have worn my stumbling feet:
Oh, soothe me with thy smiles,
And make my life complete.

The thorns were thick and keen
Where'er I trembling trod;
The way was long between
My wounded feet and God.

Where healing waters flow
Do thou my footsteps lead.
My heart is aching so;
Thy gracious balm I need."

This poem really gives the reader a feeling of how many hard times and how much trouble African Americans had to go through to gain “equality”. It shows how important this topic was for Dunbar, especially being the child of two former slaves. The Lynching of Jube Benson also showed how African Americans suffered and were blamed for things that they didn’t do, often times just because of their race. Besides writing, Dunbar also took a job at the Library of Congress for a while until it took a toll on him in making his tuberculosis worse. He died in 1906 at the age of 33, but he left behind fantastic writings that will be around for generations to come.

Overall he produced twelve books of poetry, four books of short stories, a play and five novels. Although Dunbar died at a young age, he lived a very successful life and made many important connections that helped get his writing off the ground, including the Wright brothers, Fredrick Douglass and William Dean Howells.

Works Cited:

http://www.dunbarsite.org/default.asp

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dunbar/dunbar.htm

www.dunbarsite.org/gallery/APrayer.asp

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html