Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872. His parents had escaped from slavery and father served in the American civil War. In 1893 Dunbar published his first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy, this and his second book , Majors and Minors bought him national fame. Dunbar use of standard English and dialect tied to various subject matter were widely popular and published in many leading journals. His success led to tours around the United States and Europe and he was established as the leading African –American poet of his day. In 1900 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and after years of ill health died in 1906 aged 33. Dunbar’s legacy has been that he provided a voice for African – Americans in the years after the Civil War , his poetry bought a literary respect to their place in American Society. He is now considered one of the great American poets of the late 19th ,early 20th Century.
