career, he wrote simple poems in the African-American vernacular dialect, some of which were published in newspapers and magazines. One of his earlier poems, "The Pariah's Love", was written in the style of Thomas Moore's Lalla-Rookh. Campbell continued to write poetry and stories at his leisure throughout his careers as a schoolteacher and school administrator. In 1887, he published his first book, Driftings and Gleanings, a volume of poetry and essays in standard American English. Following his resignation from the West Virginia Colored Institute, he relocated to Chicago in the summer of 1895, where he became a staff writer for the Chicago Times-Herald. Campbell reportedly confided in a friend, "Life is too uneventful in a little village. I want to get out into the great world." According to historian Wilhelmena S. Robinson, Campbell's career as a newsman was "his chief contribution to the literary world". Campbell continued to publish his own poems and articles, and he participated in a group publication of the literary periodical Four O'Clock Magazine. In 1895, he published his second book, Echoes from the Cabin and Elsewhere, a collection of poetry in the southern African-American vernacular dialect. The introduction was written by Richard Linthicum, editor of the Chicago Sunday Times-Herald. Linthicum wrote that Campbell had "caught the true spirit" of African Americans in the Antebellum South in "characteristic verse". According to the Poetry Foundation, this book "is often praised as one of the finest collections of dialect poems of the 19th century, managing to mix realism and folk wisdom with authentic, rhythmic dialect". Personal life Campbell married Mary Lewis Champ (July 12, 1868 – October 18, 1909) on August 4, 1891, in Harrison County, Ohio. Champ was the daughter of Joseph L. Champ, an educator and former principal of African-American schools in Jefferson County, Ohio, and Parkersburg, West Virginia, and his wife Eveline Thompson Champ. Mary Lewis Champ enrolled in Oberlin College in 1887, and graduated from the college's Literary Course in 1890. Champ was also a poet and educator, and she taught in Wheeling for one year prior to marrying Campbell. Death Campbell wrote his last poem, "Homesick", on December 7, 1895. Published in The Chicago Conservator, it detailed his longing for the "quiet of the home place". While visiting his family's home in the Kerr's Run section of Pomeroy, Ohio, for the Christmas holiday, Campbell became ill with symptoms of a common cold, followed