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Notable people · Poet · Writer

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dayton-born poet, novelist and lyricist who became one of the first African American writers with a national and international readership.

Born June 27, 1872, Dayton (311 Howard Street)
Died February 9, 1906, Dayton (219 N. Summit Street, now Paul Laurence Dunbar Street)

Paul Laurence Dunbar
Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
June 27, 1872, Dayton (311 Howard Street) (Montgomery County) source
Died
February 9, 1906, Dayton (219 N. Summit Street, now Paul Laurence Dunbar Street) (Montgomery County) source
Buried
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, Dayton (Montgomery County) source
Also known as
Paul Dunbar
Education
Central High School, Dayton, OH, graduated
Known as
Poet, Writer
Organizations
Ohio History Connection

Life story

Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton in 1872 to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky. His father, Joshua, escaped slavery and served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry. Paul was thirteen when he died.

At Central High School he was the only Black student, friend and classmate of Orville Wright, president of the literary society and editor of the school paper.

He published his first poems in a Dayton paper at sixteen, edited The Tattler (printed by the Wright brothers) in 1890, and worked as an elevator operator. Oak and Ivy appeared in 1892 or 1893 (sources differ); William Dean Howells's 1896 review of Majors and Minors made him nationally known.

He toured England in 1897 and married Alice Ruth Moore in 1898. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1900, separated from his wife in 1902, and returned to Dayton in 1904 to live with his mother. He died there at 33 in 1906.

Ohio ties

Timeline

  1. 1872 Born June 27 at 311 Howard Street on Dayton's east side. source
  2. 1885 His father, Joshua Dunbar, a Civil War veteran of the 55th Massachusetts Infantry and 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, died August 16; he is buried at Dayton National Cemetery. source
  3. 1888 At 16 published the poems "Our Martyred Soldiers" and "On the River" in the Dayton Herald. source
  4. 1890 Published and edited the Dayton Tattler for west Dayton's Black community, printed by classmate Orville Wright; it folded in December 1890. source
  5. 1892 Read at the Western Association of Writers convention in Dayton; poet James Newton Matthews's praise of the reading circulated across the Midwest. source
  6. 1893 Published Oak and Ivy, printed by Dayton's United Brethren Publishing House, and sold copies to elevator passengers. source
  7. 1896 William Dean Howells praised Majors and Minors in Harper's Weekly on June 27; Lyrics of Lowly Life followed with a Howells introduction. source
  8. 1898 Married poet Alice Ruth Moore in New York on March 6; they separated in 1902. source
  9. 1904 Bought the Summit Street house in Dayton for his mother Matilda in June. source
  10. 1906 Died of tuberculosis in the Summit Street house on February 9, aged 33. source
  11. 1934 Matilda Dunbar died in the house, having kept his study and manuscripts as he left them; she is buried beside him at Woodland. source
  12. 1936 The house became a state memorial, described as the first state memorial to honor an African American. source
  13. 1962 The Dunbar House was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 29. source
  14. 1992 Wright State University renamed its main library the Paul Laurence Dunbar Library. source

What Paul is known for

  • Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
  • 'Sympathy'
  • Lyrics for In Dahomey, first all-Black Broadway musical (1903)
  • Oak and Ivy (1892/93)
  • Majors and Minors (1896)
  • Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
  • The Uncalled (1898)
  • The Sport of the Gods (1902)
  • In Dahomey (1903)
  • Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)

Stories

The poet in the elevator

After graduating from Central High School, Dunbar found that newspapers and offices in Dayton would not hire a Black writer, so he took a job running an elevator in the Callahan Building downtown for about four dollars a week. He wrote between trips. Eva Best, whose father kept an architect's office in the building, was among the first to take his poems seriously. When the Wright brothers' small shop could not print a book, Dunbar had Oak and Ivy printed in 1893 by the United Brethren Publishing House in Dayton and paid off the bill by selling copies, often to the people riding his elevator. A year earlier a former teacher had invited him to read at the Western Association of Writers meeting in Dayton, and the press attention from that reading helped lead to the book.

Source

The Wrights' print job

Orville Wright sat in Dunbar's class at Central High School, though he did not graduate. In 1890, before the brothers turned to bicycles and then flight, Orville and Wilbur ran a print shop, and they printed the Dayton Tattler, a weekly Dunbar wrote and edited for the Black community of west Dayton. The paper lasted only a few issues before folding in December 1890. The two families stayed linked: Dunbar's grave at Woodland Cemetery lies in the same section as the Wright family plot.

Source

Honors and things named for them

  • 1975 U.S. postage stamp
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar House State Memorial, Dayton
  • Dunbar Library, Wright State University
  • Schools named for him in Dayton, Baltimore, Chicago, Lexington KY
  • Dunbar Apartments, Harlem

Named for Paul Laurence Dunbar

Family

  • father: Joshua Dunbar
  • mother: Matilda Dunbar
  • wife: Alice Ruth Moore
  • school friend: Orville Wright

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

12
  • 1 Paul Laurence Dunbar House (National Historic Landmark; part of Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park)
    Dayton, 219 Paul Laurence Dunbar Street Montgomery County · source
  • 2 Dunbar and Matilda Dunbar graves, Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum (granite boulder with verse of "A Death Song"; coordinates are for the cemetery, not the grave)
    Dayton, 118 Woodland Avenue Montgomery County · source
  • Joshua Dunbar grave (the poet's father), Dayton National Cemetery
    Dayton Montgomery County · source
  • Birthplace site, 311 Howard Street (unknown)
    Dayton Montgomery County · source
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar Library special collections, Wright State University
    Fairborn (Wright State campus) Greene County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Ohio places

Where Paul Laurence Dunbar was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

  • Oak and Ivy is dated 1892 in some places and 1893 in others.
  • Disputed: Wikipedia calls him the first African American poet to earn national distinction. Earlier poets such as Phillis Wheatley were also nationally known, so the word first is contested.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

  • Dunbar Magnet Middle School in Little Rock
    Dunbar Magnet Middle School in Little Rock
    Public domain
  • Title: Howard Univ., Washington, D.C., ca. 1900 - class picture Abstract: Seven males - print rev. Physical description:
    Title: Howard Univ., Washington, D.C., ca. 1900 - class picture Abstract: Seven males - print rev. Physical de...
    Public domain
  • Paul Dunbar High School sign, Little Rock
    Paul Dunbar High School sign, Little Rock
    CC0
  • Matilda Dunbar, mother of the American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. From The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, publi
    Matilda Dunbar, mother of the American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. From The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dun...
    Public domain
  • This is my own work. Taken at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. Gravestone of Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872–1906
    This is my own work. Taken at Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio. Gravestone of Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872–1906
    Public domain
  • Frontispiece of Lyrics of Lowly Life by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1896)
    Frontispiece of Lyrics of Lowly Life by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1896)
    Public domain
  • Image or page from Negro Poets and Their Poems
    Image or page from Negro Poets and Their Poems
    Public domain
  • A 1903 portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar
    A 1903 portrait of Paul Laurence Dunbar
    Public domain
  • American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar at age 24. From The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, published by J.L. Nichols
    American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar at age 24. From The Life and Works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, published by J....
    Public domain
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar, bust portrait, facing right, head resting on left hand
    Paul Laurence Dunbar, bust portrait, facing right, head resting on left hand
    Public domain
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar, three-quarter length portrait, standing, facing left, hand on chin
    Paul Laurence Dunbar, three-quarter length portrait, standing, facing left, hand on chin
    Public domain
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar, half-length portrait, standing, facing left
    Paul Laurence Dunbar, half-length portrait, standing, facing left
    Public domain

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-14.

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