This glossary of words used in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s dialect poetry provides the spelling(s) used in the poems; audio recordings of the words spoken in a phrase from a Dunbar poem (most of which are spoken by Dunbar scholar and performer Herbert Woodward Martin); and the passage of the poem from which the pronouncer read.

The goal of this glossary and the Dunbar Music Archive is to build awareness of Dunbar's dialect poetry; to preserve the pronunciation and style of its delivery; to provide a glimpse into African American life and culture in the 19th and 20th centuries; and to provide a fuller picture of an untold African American history.

Minnita Daniel-Cox, the curator of the Dunbar Music Archive and the Dunbar dialect glossary, is an associate professor of music at the University of Dayton.