Walt Whitman: An American Original

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York. The promise of an 1823 housing boom brought the family to Brooklyn. Whitman was brought up in public school during the second half of the 1820s but, by 1831, he left school and became an office boy for a lawyer and a doctor. By 1832, Whitman had become drawn into the publishing realm and worked as an apprentice for the Long Island Patriot. This would lead to his then moving onto a three year stint as a compositor with the Long Island Star.

Unfortunately, an 1836 fire at a New York press that Whitman worked for left him unemployed; he moved on to become a teacher for two years. After spending a year as an editor with the Long Islander and also works with the Long Islander Democrat. Whitman became a vocal supporter for Martin Van Buren's 1840 presidential campaign, the same year that Whitman returned to teaching, in Long Island. 1841 saw Whitman remain busy, as he moved to New York City and also began work as a compositor for The New World. In July, Whitman addressed a major Democratic party rally in New York City's City Hall Park. Furthermore, this was the year when Whitman published Death in the School-Room (a Fact" in the Democratic Review.

For three years, from 1842 to 1845, Whitman saw a series of stints with several publications, including Aurora, Evening Tattler, Statesman, Democrat, and Mirror. He returned to Brooklyn in 1845 and worked for the Evening Star until March of the following year. The last half of the 1840s sees Whitman work at the Daily Eagle in Brooklyn until 1848, during which year he worked briefly at New Orleans' Daily Crescent. Yet, Whitman returned to Brooklyn later in the year. Whitman worked for Brooklyn's weekly Freeman, which became a daily publication during Whitman's one year time at the paper.