Paul Laurence Dunbar is one of the earliest influential Black poets in American literature. He is known for his dialect verse in collections such as Majors and Minors and Lyrics of Lowly Life.

He also wrote novels, short stories, and essays. Dunbar’s literary works are regarded as an impressive representation of Black life in the United States at the turn of the century.

I have read his The Love of Landry, which tells the story of an ailing woman who arrives in Colorado to convalesce and finds true happiness with a cowboy.

 
Dunbar’s work is both a history and a celebration of Black life. 

Read here one of his well-known poems, “Invitation to Love” - 

Come when the nights are bright with stars

Or come when the moon is mellow;

Come when the sun his golden bars

Drops on the hay-field yellow.

Come in the twilight soft and gray,

Come in the night or come in the day,

Come, O love, whene’er you may,

And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,

You are soft as the nesting dove.

Come to my heart and bring it to rest

As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief

Or when my heart is merry;

Come with the falling of the leaf

Or with the redd’ning cherry.

Come when the year’s first blossom blows,

Come when the summer gleams and glows,

Come with the winter’s drifting snows,

And you are welcome, welcome.