On November 26, 1894, Paul Laurence Dunbar recited his poetry at a church in Louisville, Kentucky. He was 22 years old and had not yet achieved national prominence. The event was coordinated by Joseph Seamon Cotter, a Black poet and educator in Louisville.
I would have answered your letter immediately, but I was looking to see what I could do for you. As yet I don't see where you would get any work. I have partly arranged with the Y. M. C. A. to have you read during Thanksgiving week. The Y. M. C. A. cannot run any risk. We think we can get several of the churches to donate a night each for the reading. If so, the money will be divided between you and the Y. M. C. A. Now, this may be a very good thing and then it may be something else, as you see. When the plan is settled upon I will write you stating the terms as to the division of money. I will do all I can to work it up.
Joseph Seamon Cotter to Paul Laurence Dunbar, November 6, 1894. Paul Laurence Dunbar Papers, Ohio History Connection (Microfilm edition, Roll 1).
Long before Paul became famous, Cotter recognized his talent and potential. He became an eager supporter early in Paul's career and established a Paul Laurence Dunbar School in Louisville. Cotter arranged for a literary recital a few days before Thanksgiving 1894.
Paul Dunbar, the young colored poet who is to read at Zion A. M. E. church this and tomorrow evenings, ought to be rewarded with a good audience if his race care to show appreciation of high endeavor. Dunbar is only twenty-two, but his verse shows talent. A black poet is a rarity, but he is a modest, well-mannered young man, and is very likely to be heard from in the future. His father and mother were slaves in Louisville thirty-five years ago. It would be a very agreeable thing, by the way, if his programs should be interspersed with one or more readings by Joseph Cotter, the young colored teacher whose poetic productions have frequently appeared in the columns of the Courier-Journal and who has succeeded in bringing young Dunbar here.
"Matters of Common Talk." The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky). November 26, 1894. Page 8.
The entertainment given at Zion A. M. E. church last evening was a remarkable one. The feature of the evening was the recitation of his own poems by Paul Dunbar, of Dayton. All the selections given by him last evening were in dialect of one kind or another. The colored people, as well as a certain number of whites, owe their thanks to Joseph S. Cotter, the colored teacher, himself an accomplished versifier, for the enterprise which prompted him to bring Dunbar to Louisville. Mr. Cotter was foremost among those who appeared as "support" in the entertainment, reading a very clever bit of humorous verse of his own, which was highly appreciated.
"Paul Dunbar is a Prodigy." The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky). November 27, 1894. Page 8.
Louisville is a city of surprises. A short while ago it was the boy-preacher; then it was the landslide of the election; and now society is all agog over the talent of a young colored poet, Paul Dunbar.
"Our Colored Citizens." The Bee (Earlington, Kentucky). December 6, 1894. Page 3.
There was a good reason why this young negro should have chosen Louisville rather than other cities on this side of Mason and Dixon's line for this semi-professional visit. Although born in Ohio and raised there, he is the son of a Louisville woman. Moreover he is a friend of two prominent colored teachers in this city, Frank Williams and Joseph S. Cotter, the latter of whom is himself a good deal of a versifier. While in Louisville he was the guest of one or other of these two, and after he left, Prof. Cotter acted as agent to take orders for the two volumes of verse which Dunbar published. Prof. Cotter, in spite of literary aspirations in much the same line, feels only a generous pride in his own acquaintance with Dunbar and Dunbar's connection with the colored people of Louisville through his mother.
"Dunbar. Recognition at Last for the Colored Poet." The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky). October 4, 1896. Page 2.