Overview

Paul Laurence Dunbar is considered the most influential African-American writer before the Harlem Renaissance. Through the use of lyrical poems that sometimes utilized vernacular, Dunbar wrote on a variety of themes including romance, the plight of African-Americans, humor and even racial upliftment.

Author and literary critic William Dean Howells argued that Dunbar was the first African-American poet to “feel the Negro life aesthetically and express it lyrically” while Mary Church Terrell firmly pronounced that Dunbar was the “poet laureate of the Negro race.”

Key Details

• Born: June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio
• Death: February 9, 1906 in Dayton, Ohio
• Parents: Joshua Dunbar, served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. His mother, Mathilda Dunbar, was a former slave
• Spouse: Alice Dunbar Nelson, poet and writer.

Early Life and Education

As the son of former slaves, Dunbar was taught at an early age about the oral tradition of storytelling, which would influence his writing in years to come. Attending public school in Dayton, Dunbar realized his interest in writing poetry and was inspired by the works of Romantic poets such as John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Burns. In addition, as Dunbar continued to hone his craft, he read American poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and James Whitcomb Riley. Yet, it was poet Irwin Russell who inspired Dunbar to infuse the stories of his parents’ oral tradition with lyricism, creating an authentic poetic tone.

While still a high school student, Dunbar published two poems, “Our Martyred Soldiers” and “On the River” in The Herald, a Dayton newspaper. Determined to become a writer, Dunbar became a journalist for Dayton’s African-American newspaper, The Tattler. Although the newspaper was only in publication for six weeks, the experience of writing inspired Dunbar to continue writing. Graduating from high school in 1891, Dunbar worked as an elevator operator and continued to write in his spare time. While working, poet James Newton Mathews encouraged Dunbar to read his poetry at the Western Association of Writers in 1892.

Professional Career

In 1893, Dunbar published his first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy. For the next 16 years, Dunbar published many collections of poetry, fiction and essays. His greatest works include:

• Majors and Minors (1895)
• Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
• Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899)
• Poems of Cabin and Field (1899)
• Candle-Lightin’ Time (1901)
• Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903)
• When Malindy Sings (1903)
• Li’l Ga (1904) Howdy, Honey, Howdy (1905)
• Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905).

Dunbar’s poetry was also published in literary journals such as Century, Lipincott’s Monthly, Atlantic Monthly and the Saturday Evening Post.

Dunbar wrote the lyrics for the first Broadway musical to be written and performed by an African-American cast, In Dahomey in 1903.

In addition to writing poetry, Dunbar was also a founding member of the American Negro Academy, an elite organization of African-American intellectual men who were dedicated to documenting their achievements.

Praise from African-Americans and Whites

Throughout Dunbar’s career, he received the praise of both white and African-American leaders.

In 1893, while promoting his first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy, Dunbar met Frederick Douglass. Admiring Dunbar’s work, Douglass hired him to manage the Haitian exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Following Douglass’ death in February of 1895, Dunbar wrote the poem, “Frederick Douglass” in honor of the former abolitionist and African-American leader.

James Weldon Johnson argued that Dunbar was “the first American Negro poet of real literary distinction.”

Howells, a fan of Dunbar’s second collection of poetry, Majors and Minors, stated that Dunbar’s writing was filled with “honest thinking and true feeling.” Howell felt so strongly about Dunbar’s poems written in dialect that he wrote the introduction for Lyrics of a Lowly Life in 1896.

Death

Despite Dunbar’s prowess as a poet, he suffered from poor health, depression and alcoholism. Dunbar died in 1906 of tuberculosis.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/biographies/a/Paul-Laurence-Dunbar-Poet-Laureate-Of-The-Negro-Race.htm

The American Negro Academy was the first organization in the United States devoted to African-American scholarship. Founded in 1897, the mission of the American Negro Academy was to promote the academic achievements of African-Americans in areas such as higher education, arts, and science.

Members of the organization were part of W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Talented Tenth” and pledged to uphold the objectives of the organization, which included defending African-Americans against racism; publish works that showed the scholarship of African-Americans; promote the importance of higher education for African-Americans; and develop intellectualism amongst African-Americans by promoting literature, visual art, music and science. Membership in the American Negro Academy was by invitation and open only to male scholars of African descent. In addition, the membership was capped at fifty scholars.

Founding members included:
• Reverend Alexander Crummell, a former abolitionist, clergyman and believer in Pan Africanism.
• John Wesley Cromwell, news publisher, educator and lawyer.
• Paul Laurence Dunbar, poet, playwright and novelist.
• Walter B. Hayson, clergyman
• Kelly Miller, scientist and mathematician.

The organization held its first meeting in March of 1870. From the outset, members agreed that the American Negro Academy was established in opposition to
Booker T. Washington’s philosophy, which underscored vocational and industrial training. The American Negro Academy assembled educated men of African Diaspora who invested in uplifting the race through academics. The goal of the organization was to “lead and protect their people” as well as to be a “weapon to secure equality and destroy racism.” As such, members were in direct opposition to Washington’s Atlanta Compromise and argued through their work and writings for an immediate end to segregation and discrimination.

Presidents of the academy included:
• W.E.B. Du Bois, scholar and civil rights leader.
• Archibald H. Grimke, lawyer, diplomat and journalist.
• Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, historian, writer and bibliophile.

Under the leadership of men such as Du Bois, Grimke and Schomburg, members of the American Negro Academy published several books and pamphlets which examined African-American culture and society in the United States. Other publications analyzed the effects of racism on United States’ society. These publications include:

• Disenfranchisement of the Negro by J.L. Lowe
• The Early Negro Conventions by John W. Cromwell
• Comparative Study of the Negro Problem by Charles C. Cook
• Economic Contributions by the Negro to America by Arturo Schomburg
• Status of the Free Negro from 1860 – 1870 by William Pickens

As a result of selective membership process, leaders of the American Negro Academy found it hard to meet their financial obligations. Membership in the American Negro Academy diminished in the 1920s and the organization officially closed by 1928. However, the organization was revived more than forty years later as many African-American artists, writers, historians and scholars realized the importance continuing this legacy of work. And in 1969, the non-profit organization, the Black Academy of Arts and Letters was established.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/biographies/a/American-Negro-Academy-Promoting-The-Talented-Tenth.htm

May 2

1844: Inventor Elijah McCoy, also known as the “Real McCoy,” is born in Ontario, Canada. An inventor, McCoy owned patents to fifty inventions
that enhanced the running of many engine-operated machines.

1920: The National Negro Baseball League plays its first game in Indianapolis.

May 3

1845: Macon B. Allen becomes the first African-American allowed to practice law in the United States after he passed the Massachusetts bar. In 1873, Allen was appointed to a judgeship in South Carolina.

May 4

1891: Provident Hospital, the first integrated hospital in the United States is founded by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams. Located in Chicago, Provident Hospital becomes a training ground for African-American doctors and nurses.

1961: The thirteen Freedom Riders begin traveling through the South on buses to assess Southern compliance with the 1960 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation in interstate transportation facilities.

May 5

1865: Baptist minister and community activist Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. is born. Under his tutelage, Abyssinian Baptist Church becomes the largest
Protestant congregation in the United States.

1905:

Using a collection of articles from other news publications and his own reporting, Robert S. Abbpt publishes the
first issue of the Chicago Defender.

May 6

1787:
Prince Hall establishes the first African-American Masonic Lodge in Boston.

1812: Pan-Africanist Martin R. Delay is born in Charles Town, Va.

May 7

1950: Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

May 8

1858: Prominent abolitionist and writer, William Wells Brown, publishes the first play by an African-American. Entitled “Escape,” the play emphasizes the
complex feeling of being American.

1925 The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters is founded by Asa Philip Randolph.

Article source: http://afroamhistory.about.com/b/2012/05/02/this-week-in-african-american-history-may-2-to-may-8.htm