Paul Laurence Dunbar 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, circa 1890
1897 sketch by Norman B. Wood
Dunbar grave site at Woodland Cemetery, 2007
Dunbar on 1975 U.S. postage stamp
Dayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. As of the 2020 census, the city proper had a population of 137,644, making it the sixth-most populous city in Ohio. It anchors the state's fourth-largest metropolitan area, the Dayton metropolitan area, which had 814,049 residents. Dayton is located within Ohio's Miami Valley region, 50 miles (80 km) north of Cincinnati and 60 miles (97 km) west of Columbus.
Image: Dayton Skyline
Image: Immaculate Conception Chapel, University of Dayton
Image: Dayton art institute exterior evening 2005
Image: National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
