Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906) was born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved, and became the first African American poet to achieve national prominence. The son of a Civil War veteran, he published his debut collection Oak and Ivy (1893) at his own expense and gained national attention with Lyrics of Lowly Life (Dodd, Mead, 1896), which included an introduction by William Dean Howells. He wrote in both standard English and African American vernacular dialect, and his work explores Black life, joy, sorrow, and the conditions of post-Reconstruction America. His collections include Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899). He also published four novels. He died of tuberculosis at thirty-three.