Paul Dunbar, American Author and Playwright
Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 - February 9, 1906) was an African- American poet, novelist, and playwright. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began to write stories and verse when still a child; he was president of his high school's literary society. Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the negro dialect associated with the antebellum South. Dunbar's work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with the Harper's Weekly, and Dunbar was one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. He wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African-American musical produced on Broadway in New York. Dunbar also wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels. Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works. Suffering from tuberculosis, Dunbar died in 1906, at the age of 33. Photo by Kell, 1906
