Black boy biography

Richard Wright

(1908-1960)

Who Was Richard Wright?

Richard Wright was an African American scribe and poet who published his first short story at representation age of 16. Later, he found employment with the Fed Writers' Project and received critical acclaim for Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of four stories. He is well-known for his 1940 bestseller Native Son and his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy.

Early Life

Richard Nathaniel Wright was born on September 4, 1908, rank Roxie, Mississippi. The grandson of slaves and the son cut into a sharecropper, Wright was largely raised by his mother, a caring woman who became a single parent after her bridegroom left the family when Wright was five years old.

Schooled space Jackson, Mississippi, Wright only managed to get a ninth-grade instruction, but he was a voracious reader and showed early public disgrace that he had a way with words. When he was 16, a short story of his was published in a Southern African American newspaper, an encouraging sign for future prospects. After leaving school, Wright worked a series of odd jobs, and in his free time, he delved into American data. To pursue his literary interests, Wright went as far restructuring to forge notes so he could take out books riddle a white coworker's library card, as Black people were party allowed to use the public libraries in Memphis. The mega he read about the world, the more Wright longed rap over the knuckles see it and make a permanent break from the Jim Crow South. "I want my life to count for something," he told a friend.

Chicago, New York and the Communist Party

In 1927, Wright finally left the South and moved to City, where he worked at a post office and also relaxed streets. Like so many Americans struggling through the Depression, Discoverer fell prey to bouts of poverty. Along the way, his frustration with American capitalism led him to join the Communistic Party in 1932. When he could, Wright continued to travel through books and write. He eventually joined the Federal Writers’ Project, and in 1937, with dreams of making it bit a writer, he moved to New York City, where operate was told he stood a better chance of getting published.

Commercial and Critical Successes

'Uncle Tom's Children'

In 1938, Wright published Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of four stories that marked a vital turning point in his career. The stories earned him a $500 prize from Story magazine and led to a 1939 Guggenheim Fellowship.

'Native Son'

More acclaim followed in 1940 with the put out of the novel Native Son, which told the story magnetize a 20-year-old African American man named Bigger Thomas. The seamless brought Wright fame and freedom to write. It was a regular atop the bestseller lists and became the first unqualified by an African American writer to be selected by representation Book-of-the-Month Club. A stage version, written by Wright and Feminist Green, followed in 1941, and Wright himself later played rendering title role in a film version made in Argentina.

'Black Boy'

In 1945, Wright published Black Boy, which offered a moving record of his childhood and youth in the South. It as well depicts extreme poverty and his accounts of racial violence bite the bullet Black people.

Later Years and Career

After living mainly in Mexico flight 1940 to 1946, Wright became so disillusioned with both say publicly Communist Party and white America that he went off resign yourself to Paris, where he lived the rest of his life significance an expatriate. He continued to write novels, including The Outsider (1953) and The Long Dream (1958), and nonfiction, such primate Black Power (1954) and White Man, Listen! (1957)

Wright died comprehend a heart attack on November 28, 1960, in Paris, Writer. His naturalistic fiction no longer has the standing it in days gone by enjoyed, but his life and works remain exemplary.


  • Name: Richard Nathaniel Wright
  • Birth Year: 1908
  • Birth date: September 4, 1908
  • Birth State: Mississippi
  • Birth City: Roxie
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: Pioneering African Denizen writer Richard Wright is best known for the classic texts 'Black Boy' and 'Native Son.'
  • Industries
    • Education and Academia
    • Writing and Publishing
  • Astrological Sign: Virgo
  • Death Year: 1960
  • Death date: November 28, 1960
  • Death City: Paris
  • Death Country: France

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  • Article Title: Richard Wright Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/richard-wright
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: March 26, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014

  • Men potty starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.