Richard wright presentation

Richard WrightBy Jose Lopez

• Born: September 4, 1908- November 28, 1960

• Plantation, Roxie, Mississippi

• Occupation: Novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer

• Notable Works: “Uncle Tom’s Children”, “Native Son”, “Black Boy”, “ The Outsider”

Early Life

• Grandson of slaves and the son of a sharecropper

• Lived in an orphanage; lived with Grandmother and Aunt

• Managed to get to the ninth grade

• Presented a gift with words and was a voracious reader

• Published his first story in a southern African American newspaper at the age of 16, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre”

Life in the North

• 1927 Wright left the South and moved to Chicago

• Joined the John Reed Club set by Communist Party

• Fell into Communism in 1932

• 1936 served as literary advisor and press agent for the Negro Federal Theatre

Communism Breaks

• 1942 Wright broke Communism

• Began to embrace the idea of Marxism

• Outlined the literary theory for black American writers, “Blueprint for Negro Writing”

Career

• 1938 Published “Uncle Tom’s Children”

• 1940 Published “Native Son”

• 1945 Published “Black Boy”

End of An Inspiration

• Died of a heart attack on November 28, 1960 in Paris, France

Work Cited

• "Richard Nathaniel Wright." 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 13 2014