Paul Laurence Dunbar :
Paul Laurence Dunbar Biographical Information Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African-American poets to gain national recognition.
He was born in Dayton, Ohio, on June 27, 1872, to Joshua and Matilda Murphy Dunbar, freed slaves from Kentucky Portrait from www.poets.org
Biographical Information Continued :
Biographical Information Continued First forays into poetry By the age of fourteen, he had poems published in the Dayton Herald More poems published In 1893, Dunbar self-published Oak and Ivy.
To help pay the publishing costs, he sold the book for a dollar to people riding in the elevator he worked in.
Some of His Published Works :
Some of His Published Works Majors and Minors (1895). The poems written in standard English were called "majors," and those in dialect were termed "minors." Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903), Howdy, Howdy, Howdy (1905), and Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)
Commentary on Dunbar’s Poems :
Commentary on Dunbar’s Poems Language and Dialect Dunbar was able to accurately capture many dialects spoken in America in his poems at the time
The Poem We Will Read :
The Poem We Will Read “We Wear the Mask”
This poem captures the African-American experience living in the South U.S. during the turn of the century