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Paul Laurence Dunbar

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Dunbar, Paul Laurence
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Person
Gender
Male
Date of birth
1872-06-27
Place of birth
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Date of death
1906-02-09
Place of death
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Wikipedia

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began writing stories and verse when he was a child. He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper, and served as president of his high school's literary society.

Dunbar's popularity increased rapidly after his work was praised by William Dean Howells, a leading editor associated with Harper's Weekly. Dunbar became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. In addition to his poems, short stories, and novels, he also wrote the lyrics for the musical comedy In Dahomey (1903), the first all-African-American musical produced on Broadway in New York. The musical later toured in the United States and the United Kingdom. Suffering from tuberculosis, which then had no cure, Dunbar died in Dayton, Ohio, at the age of 33.

Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the "Negro dialect" associated with the antebellum South, though he also used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley. Dunbar also wrote in conventional English in other poetry and novels and is considered the first important African American sonnet writer. Since the late 20th century, scholars have become more interested in these other works.

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Editions

NameFormatISBNRelease Date
The UncalledeBook?2023-04-04
The Sport of the GodseBook?2022-09-05
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Identifiers

Goodreads Author ID
25129
ISNI
0000000121024640
LibraryThing Author
dunbarpaullaurence
OpenLibrary Author ID
OL215841A
VIAF
76335432
Wikidata ID
Q974678

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Last Modified
2023-04-06