Walt Whitman

By janaelindsey

  • Walt Whitman is born

    Walt Whitman is born
    Walter Whitman, Jr. is born in West Hills, Long Island, New York to father Walter Whitman, Sr. and Louisa Van Velsor. Born of a working class family of eight other siblings.

  • Begins his education

    Begins his education
    Whitman attends public school in Brooklyn for six years at the age of four years old.

  • Starts his own newspaper

    Starts his own newspaper
    Whitman interrupts his teaching career to start his own newspaper "The Long Islander" that fails but is later revived

  • Teaching career ends

    Teaching career ends
    Whitman's short career of teaching comes to and end and he begins to publish stories, novels, fiction, and poems.

  • Published novel

    Published novel
    Whitman publishes the novel, Franklin Evans: or The Inebriate

  • Meets J.E. McClure

    Meets J.E. McClure
    Whitman meets J.E. McClure who is starting a New Orleans paper and strikes a deal with Whitman to come and be apart of the company.

  • Publishes "Leaves of Grass"

    Publishes "Leaves of Grass"
    Whitman writes and self-publishes "Leaves of Grass," a collection of 12 unnmaed poems

  • Suffers stroke

    Suffers stroke
    Whitman suffers a stroke that leaves him partially paralyzed.

  • Writes his will

    Writes his will
    Whitman writes his last will and testament.

  • Walter Whitman dies

    Walter Whitman dies
    Walter Whitman dies in Camden, New Jersey. The cause of death is miliary tuberculosis. The autopsy reveals one lung had completely collapsed while the other was working only one eighth of its capacity.