Paul Lawrence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1872, to two freed slaves. Both of Dunbar's parents, who had been born slaves, had a love for literature. His father Joshua, had escaped slavery, moved to Canada, and returned to fight in the Civil War. It was after the war that he met and married Dunbar's mother, Matilda. Matilda and Joshua had two children before he passed away in 1874, (some sources say they may have been divorced). Dunbar had written his first poem when he was seven years old. It was through his mother Matilda, that Dunbar earned a love for literature, for she would teach her children the art of songs and storytelling (Draper 622).

He was an excellent, well-behaved and diligent student, and graduated from high school with honors in 1891. Even though he was the only African American in the school, he was

Lines ten through fifteen Dunbar discusses that although there wasn't always someone there to commend him for his hard work he continued to write with even more determination. Believing that it doesn't matter if you have an audience if they can't relate to his writing. There are times when we as readers have done something that we have been proud of but had no who understood where it was all coming from.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1981
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)