The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the most prominent and publicly recognized figures in American literature at the turn of the twentieth century. Thirty-three years old at the time of his death in 1906, he had published four novels, four collections of short stories, and fourteen books of poetry, not to mention numerous songs, plays, and essays in newspapers and magazines around the world. In the century following his death, Dunbar slipped into relative obscurity, remembered mainly for his dialect poetry or as a footnote to other more canonical figures from the period. The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar showcases his gifts as a writer of short fiction and provides key insights into the tensions and themes of Dunbar's literary achievement. Through examining the 104 stories written by Dunbar between 1890 and 1905, readers will be able to better understand Dunbar's specific attempts to maintain his artistic integrity while struggling with America's racist stereotypes. His work interrogated the color-line that informed American life and dictated his role as an artist in American letters. Editors Gene Jarrett and Thomas Morgan identify major themes and implications in Dunbar's work. Available in one convenient, comprehensive, and definitive volume for the first time, The Complete Stories of Paul Laurence Dunbar illustrates the complexity of his literary life and legacy. ABOUT THE EDITORS---Gene Jarrett is an assistant professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) of a forthcoming anthology, New Negro Criticism: Essays on Race, Representation, and African American Culture.Thomas Morgan is a lecturer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His research and teaching interests focus on critical race theory in late-nineteenth century American and African American literature, specifically as it applies to the politics of narrative form.

Sixteen tales offer insights into the lives of African Americans after the Civil War, recounting the promise of northward migration, the horrors of lynching, and the complexity of relationships between former slaves and masters.

The definitive biography of a pivotal figure in American literary history A major poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was one of the first African American writers to garner international recognition in the wake of emancipation. In this definitive biography, the first full-scale life of Dunbar in half a century, Gene Andrew Jarrett offers a revelatory account of a writer whose Gilded Age celebrity as the “poet laureate of his race” hid the private struggles of a man who, in the words of his famous poem, felt like a “caged bird” that sings. Jarrett tells the fascinating story of how Dunbar, born during Reconstruction to formerly enslaved parents, excelled against all odds to become an accomplished and versatile artist. A prolific and successful poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, and Broadway librettist, he was also a friend of such luminaries as Frederick Douglass and Orville and Wilbur Wright. But while audiences across the United States and Europe flocked to enjoy his literary readings, Dunbar privately bemoaned shouldering the burden of race and catering to minstrel stereotypes to earn fame and money. Inspired by his parents’ survival of slavery, but also agitated by a turbulent public marriage, beholden to influential benefactors, and helpless against his widely reported bouts of tuberculosis and alcoholism, he came to regard his racial notoriety as a curse as well as a blessing before dying at the age of only thirty-three. Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and generously illustrated, this biography presents the richest, most detailed, and most nuanced portrait yet of Dunbar and his work, transforming how we understand the astonishing life and times of a central figure in American literary history.

Paul Laurence Dunbar's 'The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar' offers an expansive tableau of the African American experience at the turn of the 20th century through poetry that weaves a rich tapestry of emotion, heritage, and history. This collection showcases Dunbar's mastery of both standard English verse and dialect poetry, the latter drawing from the vernacular of the Southern Black community. His work exemplifies a fusion of lyrical and narrative styles, set against the broad literary context of the American Realism and early Modernist periods, a time when issues of race and identity were carving deep fissures in the cultural landscape of the nation. As the son of freed slaves, Dunbar's literary genius springs from the well of his own cultural and personal struggles. His poignant exploration of themes such as liberty, oppression, love, and the complexities of African American life has cemented his reputation as a significant literary figure. Dunbar's poetry delves into the emotional and cultural dialogues of his era, preserving the voices of his community through eloquent artistic expressions that remain impactful to this day. His works are not merely artifacts of a historical epoch but are living testaments to the endurance and depth of the human spirit. For enthusiasts of American poetry and those invested in the literary chronicles of the African American experience, 'The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar' is an essential volume. It offers readers a window into the soul of a man and his society, revealing the universal truths that resonate beyond the boundaries of time and race. This anthology is deserving of a place on the shelves of scholars and lay readers alike who appreciate the power of words to incite change, to celebrate heritage, and to heal fissures wrought by history's hand.