Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872, in Dayton, Ohio, to Joshua and Matilda Murphy Dunbar, both of whom had been enslaved in Kentucky before the Civil War. His father escaped from bondage and made his way to Massachusetts, where he enlisted in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment — one of the first Black units to serve the Union — and later the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry. From his parents' remembered stories of slavery and plantation life, the young poet drew a wellspring he would return to throughout his career.

At Dayton Central High School, Dunbar was the only student of color, yet he rose to edit the school newspaper, lead its literary society, and serve as class poet. He published his first poems at sixteen. After graduating in 1891, unable to afford the study of law, he took work as an elevator operator — and in 1893 self-published his first collection, Oak and Ivy, selling copies to his passengers.

His second book, Majors and Minors (1895), won the praise of the influential critic William Dean Howells, whose review carried Dunbar to national and international acclaim. Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896) followed, and in 1897 he toured England. He wrote in both eloquent standard English and in dialect, and is regarded as the first important African American sonnet writer, penning enduring works such as "Sympathy" and "We Wear the Mask."

Dunbar returned to Dayton and died of tuberculosis on February 9, 1906, at only thirty-three. In a brief life he became the first African American poet to earn national distinction, opening a door through which generations of Black writers would walk. May his song, caged though he wrote it, forever be honored.