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Along Life’s Way
Paul Laurence
Dunbar/Observations
By Lois E. Wilson
I grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and knew of Paul Laurence Dunbar—that he was
an African American poet who had a high school named for him. As a
teenager, I took private dramatic lessons and my teacher gave me some
of his dialect verses to learn. I gave readings of poetry to various
organizations and included examples of his verse. I became an admirer
of his work and story.
His parents had been slaves in Kentucky. His father escaped and served
during the Civil War in a “colored unit” of the Union Army. They
settled in Dayton. Paul was born in 1872. His parents separated when he
was a boy. It is reported that his mother taught him to read and
encouraged him to pursue an education. He wrote his first verse at age
six. He attended Central High School in Dayton. A classmate and friend
of his was Orville Wright. In 1890, Paul graduated with honors; he had
been a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper, and
was the class poet. Orville Wright left school early to concentrate on
his printing business.
To earn funds to support his writing, Dunbar became an elevator
operator in the Callahan Building in downtown Dayton. Orville did not
have book binding equipment to publish Dunbar’s first book of verse.
Dunbar had it published by the United Brethren Publishing House of
Dayton. The bishop in charge of publishing was Milton Wright, Orville’s
father. Published when Dunbar was 20, he sold the book “Oak and Ivy”
for a dollar to elevator passengers. His dialect poems were popular. He
considered them the “ivy” on the more serious body of his work—the
“oak.”
After high school he was self-educated and wrote several books of
poetry, serious essays and articles, music lyrics, short stories, and
four novels. He had several mentors who helped advance his career. He
traveled to London in 1897 to give readings of his poems. Upon return,
he married Alice Moore, a writer, teacher, and advocate for racial and
gender rights. She and Paul separated in 1902 but were never divorced.
When a white writer contended that blacks were better suited for
industrial training not higher learning, Dunbar wrote: “I believe I
know my own people pretty thoroughly. I know them all classes, the high
and low, and have yet to see any young man or young woman who had the
spirit of work in them before, driven from labor by a college
education.” Dunbar developed tuberculosis. He bought a home for his
mother in Dayton. It is now the Dunbar House Museum. She took care of
him; he continued to write. He died in 1906 at the age of 34. Here are
a few lines from his dialect poem “Speakin’ O’ Christmas.”
There’s too many new styled ways
Now about the holidays.
I’d jest like once more to see
Christmas like it used to be!
Dunbar’s philosophy of hard work and education to improve one’s
circumstances is a good model for us today. It is certainly more likely
to advance one to independence—to be master of one’s life and choices—a
goal to which we all aspire.
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