Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), the first African American to gain national eminence as a poet, is considered a precursor to the Harlem Renaissance. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of former slaves. His father, Joshua, was a United States Army soldier and plasterer, and his mother, Matilda, was a laundry worker. Although his mother had no formal education, she taught Dunbar to read when he was four. He reported that both his parents were "fond of books" and read aloud to the family in the evenings as they sat around the fire. Dunbar said that he made his first attempt at rhyming when he was about six and found a poem by Wordsworth. He thought it had been written by a man in Dayton of the same name. The idea that someone he knew wrote poetry impressed his young mind and "after that I rhymed continually," he said.

Dunbar wrote in his free time, began submitting poems to local newspapers, and in 1893 printed Oak and Ivy. He gained national recognition in 1896 with the publication of Lyrics of Lowly Life and a full-page, enthusiastic review of Majors and Minors (1895) in Harper's Weekly. That launched him as a reader on the lecture circuit in the United States and in Europe and eventually landed him a series of jobs at the Library of Congress, where he worked until sickness forced him to leave. His works include The Uncalled (novel, 1896), Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899), Uncle Eph's Christmas (one-act musical, 1900), The Sport of the Gods (novel, 1902), Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903), and Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905).