Full Bio: Paul Laurence Dunbar Tries to Make it as a Writer

Paul Laurence Dunbar, three-quarter length portrait, standing, facing left, hand on chin, 1906

For Wednesday's installment of our August Full Bio series, we speak with Gene Jarrett, dean of the faculty and English professor at Princeton, and author of a new biography about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, called, Paul Laurence Dunbar: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird. On day two, we learn about how Dunbar tried to make a career in poetry and writing after high school, including the time he met Frederick Douglass, and why he moved to New York. Plus, we hear WNYC's Michael Hill read a selection of Dunbar's poetry.