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About
Born in Dayton, Ohio to ex-slave parents (his father was also a veteran of the Civil War), Dunbar was encouraged to pursue an education through his parents’ love of learning. He is responsible for starting the first African-American newspaper in Dayton.
While Dunbar’s first volume of poetry, Oak and Ivy (1892), brought attention to his work with his ability to write well in both dialect and standard English, Dunbar did not achieve national fame until his second volume of poetry, Majors and Minors of 1895. Dunbar moved to Washington D. C. and attended Howard University following the publication of Lyrics of Lowly Life, which combined his first two volumes.
A good friend of Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass, Dunbar did not only publish prolifically in all genres, but he also wrote lyrics for the musical In Dahomey, which appeared on Broadway in 1903. The musical, which achieved great success, was a comedy written and performed entirely by African-Americans. Dunbar also collaborated with composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond.
His travels to England in 1897 brought him into contact with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an exceptional black composer, whom Dunbar influence greatly. In 1898, upon returning to the United States, Dunbar married the young black writer Alice Ruth Moore, with whom he collaborated on companion books of poetry. Dunbar took a job at the Library of Congress, but died tragically at the age of 33 from tuberculosis.
–Christie Finn
Related Information
Songs
A Negro Love Song (Jump Back)
Simon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Jump Back!
A Prayer
Simon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Jump Back!
A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Song CollectionBetty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
A Song
Simon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Jump Back!
An African Love Song
Ethelbert Nevin
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Because
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Beside the Sea
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
By the Pool
Irene Britton Smith
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Dream Cycle
Climbing: Poems by African-Americans
Song CollectionTom Cipullo
Countee Cullen
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Robert Hayden
Langston Hughes
Phillis Wheatley
Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song CollectionZenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Compensation
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Compensation
Simon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Jump Back!
Dawn
Tom Cipullo
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Climbing: Poems by African-Americans
Dawn
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
Dawn
Richard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Dream Cycle
Song CollectionIrene Britton Smith
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Dreamin' Town
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Drizzle
Zenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Florida Night
Simon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Jump Back!
Forever
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Four Romantic Love Songs
Song CollectionAdolphus C. Hailstork
Paul Laurence Dunbar
I Grew a Rose
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Invitation to Love
Adolphus C. Hailstork
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Four Romantic Love Songs
Jump Back!
Song CollectionSimon Sargon
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Li'l Gal / My Man
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Wider View
Life
Zenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Love's Apotheosis
Richard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
My Heart to Thy Heart
Adolphus C. Hailstork
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Four Romantic Love Songs
My Neighbor
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
On a Clean Book
Zenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
On Emancipation Day
Will Marion Cook
Paul Laurence Dunbar
One Life
Richard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Over the Hills
Irene Britton Smith
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Dream Cycle
Parted
William Grant Still
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Songs of Separation
Prologue: Ships That Pass in the Night
Jake Heggie
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Great Hope Fell: Songs From Civil War
Response
George Walker
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Riding to Town
Thomas H. Kerr
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Spring Song
Zenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Sunset
Zenobia Powell Perry
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Sunset
Irene Britton Smith
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Dream Cycle
Sympathy
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Five Art Songs
Sympathy
Richard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Awakening
Adolphus C. Hailstork
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Poet and His Song
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song CollectionRichard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
The Wider View
Song CollectionH. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Langston Hughes
Georgia Douglas Johnson
R. H. Grenville
James Dillet Freeman
Theology
Betty Jackson King
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: A Set of Three Dunbar Poems
To the Road!
H. Leslie Adams
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Wider View
We Wear the Mask
Richard Thompson
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar
What's the Use?
Florence Price
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Why Fades a Dream
Irene Britton Smith
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Dream Cycle
We wear the mask
B. E. Boykin
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Day
Lena J. McLin
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Songs of Love
Silence
Lena J. McLin
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Songs of Love
The Unlucky Apple
Lena J. McLin
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Song Collection: Songs of Love
Recordings
My Sister’s Keeper: Celebrating the 150th Birthday of Paul Laurence Dunbar
(Paul Laurence Dunbar, B. E. Boykin, Betty Jackson King, Irene Britton Smith, Lena J. McLin, Florence Price and Zenobia Powell Perry)
2022
View recording
Videos
Paul Laurence Dunbar: American Poet (clip)
2007
Lecture-Recital: “Highlights of the Dunbar Music Archive”
2017
Adams: “Li’l Gal”
2017
Coleridge-Taylor: “How Shall I Woo Thee”
2017
Hailstork: “The Awakening”
2017
King: “Dawn”
2017
Perry: “Cycle of Songs on Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar”
2017
Perry: “Spring Song”
2017
Thompson: “Dawn” (from “The Shadow of Dawn”)
2017
Books
Sheet Music
Florence Price: Five Art Songs (Dr. Rae Linda Brown, ed.)
Composer(s): Florence Price
Song(s): 1. Hold Fast to Dreams (Langston Hughes)
Key D Major - d minor
2. Travel's End (Mary Folwell Hoisington)
Key B Major (Low voice)
3. To My Little Son (Julia Johnson Davis)
Key B Major (Medium voice)
4. Fantasy in Purple (Langston Hughes)
Key f minor (Medium voice)
5. Sympathy (Paul Laurence Dunbar)
Key E-flat (Medium-High voice)
plus a transposed higher key, G Major (High voice)
Voice Type: Medium/High
Buy via Classical Vocal Reprints