The Birds

Birds of Peace and Hope and Love

Come fluttering earthward from above,

To settle on life’s window-sills,

And ease our loads of earthly ills;

But we, in traffic’s rush and din

Too deep engaged to let them in,

With deadened heart and sense plod on,
Nor know our loss till they are gone.[1]

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[1] This is actually the second stanza of The Sparrow by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in 1872 to Matilda and Joshua Dunbar. His mother was a former slave; his father had escaped slavery and served in the Union Army. The family was poor, and when Paul was only two, his father left home. Matilda supported her children by working in Dayton as a washerwoman. One of the families she worked for was the family of Orville and Wilbur Wright, with whom her son attended Dayton’s Central High School. Matilda taught her children a love of songs and storytelling, and encouraged them to read. Inspired by his mother, Paul began reciting and writing poetry at age six.

Although Dunbar was the only African-American in his class at high school, he rose to great heights there. He was a member of the debating society, editor of the school paper and president of the literary society. He also wrote for Dayton community newspapers. Dunbar worked as an elevator operator in Dayton’s Callahan Building until he established himself locally and nationally as a writer. He published an African-American newsletter in Dayton, the Dayton Tattler, with help from the Wright brothers.

Dunbar began to gain regional attention, and in 1892 published Oak and Ivy, his first collection of poems. Though it was received well locally, he still had to work as an elevator operator to help pay off his debt to his publisher. He sold his book for a dollar to people who rode the elevator. As more people came in contact with his work, however, his reputation spread. In 1893, he was invited to recite at the World’s Fair. He moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1895, with help from attorney Charles A. Thatcher and psychiatrist Henry A. Tobey. Both were supporters; they arranged for recitals at local libraries and literary gatherings. They also funded publication of his second collection, Majors and Minors—the book that propelled him to national fame. In 1897, Dunbar traveled to England to recite his works on the London literary circuit.

Home from England, Dunbar married Alice Ruth Moore, a young writer and teacher who had a master’s degree from Cornell University. He took a job at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He found the work tiresome, however, and worked there for only a year before quitting to write and recite full time. In 1902, He and Alice separated. Depression set in, complicated by a worsening case of tuberculosis. Dunbar became dependent on alcohol. He continued to write, however. He ultimately produced 12 books of poetry, four books of short stories, a play and five novels. His work appeared numerous magazines and journals. Dunbar returned to his mother in Dayton in 1904. There he eventually succumbed to tuberculosis, dying in 1906.  (Source: dunbarsite.org)