Richard Wright Essays

Racism in Richard Wright's Black Boy Essays

Racism in Wright's Black Boy

The theme of Richard Wright's autobiography Black Boy is racism. Wright grew up in the deep South; the Jim Crow South of the early twentieth century.

From an early age Richard Wright was aware of two races, the black and the white.

Yet he never understood the relations between the tworaces. The fact that he didn't understand but was always trying to, got him into trouble many times.

When in Memphis, Wright reluctantly assumed the role society dictated for him, the role of a black boy. He became a black boy for the sole purpose of survival, to make enough money to eventually move North where he could be himself.

As an innocent child Wright...show more content... Wright's uncle was killed by white people, and Wright's aunt and another uncle were forced to flee from the whites.

When Wright asks his mother about these incidents she tells him , "You keep your mouth shut or the white folks Г”ll get you too." As a teenager Wright learns that a friend's brother was killed by a white man. When he hears about this killing he seems unable to do anything other than sit and think about the incident. Subsequently Wright's perception of the relations between blacks and whites becomes even more negative. The whites he encounters while working are resentful of him. They not only beat him, but try to force him to fight other blacks. Wright sees that the whites he encounters will do anything possible to belittle black people. Wright begins to live his entire life in fear of doing or saying the wrong thing and thereby subjecting himself to the wrath of the whites. He realizes that even a minor mistake in action or word could lead to his death.

For most of his life, Wright had dreams of leaving the South. As a young teenager he says, "I dreamed of going north and writing books, novels. The North symbolized to me all that I had not felt and seen." (Wright pg.186 ).

In Black Boy Wright admits that his goal was not to go North, but to escape the South. Wright

Racism is the most ubiquitous theme present in Native Son because it was written in a time when racial inequality was pervasive in everyday life. There was a large disparity in wealth between whites and blacks simply because whites were given more opportunity in the middle and upper class job section around the country, especially Chicago. The large disparity in wealth is best exemplified when Bigger first walks into the white society where: "He had not expected anything like this; he had not thought that this world would be so utterly different from his own that it would intimidate him. On the smooth walls were several paintings whose nature he tried to make out, but failed. He would have liked to examine them, but he dared not. Then...show more content...

The obliviousness of white society is most clearly demonstrated by "You know, Bigger, I've long wanted to go into these houses, and just see how your people live. You know what I mean? I've been to England, France, and Mexico, but I don't know how people live ten blocks from me. We know so little about each other. I just want to see. I want to know these people. Never in my life have I been inside of a negro home. Yet they must live like we live. They're human. There are twelve million of them. They live in our country. In the same city with us." (Wright 70). This excerpt from the book came from one of the dialogues of Mary, the wealthy white girl that Bigger was "forced" to murder because of her intoxication. Mary was a white woman who had not experienced the squalor of black society. As a result, she thinks relatively highly of black society in that she thinks that they live in a similar manner as whites. This adds to the theme of racism because it shows that whites made no effort to learn about how badly the blacks were being oppressed and that whites only saw blacks as inferiors who deserved to be treated like they do because of the immoral actions of a few blacks. Criminality is another theme in Native Son that was extensively explored by Richard Wright. In the novel, the protagonist, Bigger Thomas, commits two gruesome murders that was directly influenced by his fear of being oppressed by the white society. The first murder was the Get more content

In the video, it talks about the life of Mr. Richard Wright, and how he was able to convey the struggle of being a black man in a white supremacist country of the United States. All the interviewees talk about how he was such a great writer, and how he was really able to convey the emotion and hardship that comes with being a black person. It seems that all of them had one thing in common; how important writing was to him and how his stories opened people's eyes. He was always able to write to everyone and try to give hope to those when they are needed.

Mr. Richard Wright seems to be a very inspirational man, and helped in the understanding of a black person's life. One man said, "Richard Wright proved that a black writer could write considerately better than most of the white writers of his day." (The Life and Times of Richard Wright (1 of 2), 0:30) This really impacted many people becausewhite people, a lot of the time, overlooked people of color and didn't believe they could do anything. This man, with his incredible talent, was able to surprise people into realizing the life they have to go through. "He said, 'Nothing becomes before my art.' For him, his art was sacred. He didn't care about anything else but that." (The Life and Times of Richard Wright (1 of 2), 0:45) The woman shows how dedicated he was to writing because he realized he was able to use this skill for a good cause. It is seen in his works how much he...show more content...

The video entitled The Life and Times of Richard Wright (1 of 2) was about people talking about his life and his interpretation of that life. All spoke fondly of him and really emphasized the importance of his work and how he would convey his messages to those who couldn't understand. He should and will always be important in the writing world for what he has done to make people understand the lives colored people once Get more content

Richard Wright's Summary: Fighting Words

Summary: Fighting words Richard Wright born in 1908 in Mississippi impoverished by his grandmother insisting he only reads the Bible. He became well known for an excerpt from his autobiography Black Boy entitled Fighting Words. In fighting Wright describes the moment he became interested in the use of descriptive words. He begins with his trip to the bank where he stumbled upon a magazine with a editorial piece describing H.L. Mencken as a fool. Immediately Wright knew that Mencken had to be advocating about the thing going on in the south. That is the only way he would be receiving this kind of attention. This intrigued Wright, he had to have Mencken book. But how blacks were not allowed to check out book from the library. Wright had gone

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"It is probably a mere accident that I never killed," states Richard Wright during an interview. (Kinnamon 596) Often times, an alternative people would turn to would be violence in a way to escape the world they lived in, but one man held so much inspiration over a society that was and still is shaded by prejudice. What many fail to realize is one can transform the direction of the way society works simply by using words. Because of Richard Wright's writing style, he depicts the racism and bigotry set in American society in his novel and writes this story by using examples of his personal experiences to create an impact for the later generations. Since Richard exited his mother's womb, he had to undergo bigotry and unseen detestation from white southerners because of his color (Hart 35). Starting his first day of life on September 4, 1908, Richard Wright overcame several impediments and later became one of the first famous African–American authors. The Wright family lived in Natchez, Mississippi, and his parents worked, during his toddler years. Nathaniel Wright, Richard's father, was a sharecropper. He labored for the rich plantation owners, while Richard's mother was a school teacher. (Shuman 1697)Because of the constant beatings, Wright was obedient to all types of authority but anxiety and distrust formed in his mind. Richard unintentionally set his grandparents' house Francois 2 on fire, but instead of fearing the very thing that could burn and kill him, he placed

While living in the South, Richard refuses to accept the racial stereotypes imposed on him as a black man. He tries to fight for himself to create his own identity until realizing that his only hope was to leave the South. On his high school graduation, Richard shows his strong heart by reading his own speech, rather than reading the speech written for him by the principal. He remembers, "On the night of graduation I was nervous and tense; I rose and faced the audience and my speech rolled out. When my voice stopped there was some applause. I did not care if they liked it or not; I was through" (Wright 211). Richard refuses to acceptwhite people talking for him, as the principal had tried to, and speaks up for himself. Rather than conforming...show more content...

Even though Richard knows he is black, he feels that he should still have the opportunities and fair treatment given to others, which is why he fights so hard for himself. Despite the fact that his friends and everyone around him tell him to act more "black", Richard perseveres to create his own identity not shaped by racial pressures. Finally, Richard is able to get out of the South and head north, where he can be more himself and escape some of the racism. "An hour later I was sitting in a Jim Crow carriage, speeding northward, making the first lap of my journey to a land where I could live with a little less fear" (Wright 244). In order to create a life where he could be himself and not live in fear of being discriminated against for doing so, Richard is forced to leave his family and his hometown in the South. The fact that Richard was willing to leave everything he knew behind shows how strongly he believed in himself and the hope that he can be more himself in the North. Rather than constantly being torn between the stereotype of a black man and who Richard actually wanted to be, escaping to the North allowed him to be himself and create his own identity. Overall, Richard faces the struggle of his identity as a black man by fighting against the stereotypes in order to give himself a better

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Analysis Of Richard Wright 's ' Black Boy '

Davis

Fabiano

14 October 2015

Race Relations Since 1945

The life one will lead is predetermined by the color of their skin, the god they believe in, and the place they were born. A message not unlike this reverberated through society and government in the United States not 70 years ago. Discrimination and prejudice ran rampant throughout all of American society in 1945. Richard Wright as a black author in 1945, a true anomaly for this time, eloquently brought forth this idea in his book Black Boy. Wright wrote

"Had a black boy announced that he aspired to be a writer, he would have been unhesitatingly called crazy by his pals. Or had a black boy spoken of yearning to get a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, his friends in the boy's own interest would have reported his odd ambition to

Ethan

the white boss (1.10.23)." 70 years later, our country has progressed exponentially in turn, leading to the abolishment of oppressive laws and prejudicial mindsets. Each and every American now shares the same rights regardless of race, heritage, or religion. The massive progression of racial equality does not, however, entitle one to the exclamation that we have found and implemented the solution to racial inequality. The idea that one has found the inerrant solution to such a broad and complex issue is incredibly ignorant in light of events that occur daily. Each passing day is riddled with innumerable occurrences of prejudice and discrimination

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Richard Wright

"Whenever I thought of the essential bleakness of black life in America, I knew that Negroes had never been allowed to catch the full spirit of Western civilization, that they lived somehow in it but not of it. And when I brooded upon the cultural barrenness of black life, I wondered if clean, positive tenderness, love, honor, loyalty, and the capacity to remember were native with man. I asked myself if thesehuman qualities were not fostered, won, struggled and suffered for, preserved in ritual from one generation to another." This passage written in Black Boy, the autobiography of Richard Wrightshows the disadvantages of Black people in the 1930's. A man of many words, Richard Wrights is the father of the modern...show more content...

One book of particular interest to Richard was H.L. Menken's Book of Prefaces, it was a basis to a majority of his own writings. Richard traveled around the country picking up odd jobs but these jobs didn't meet his standards, they didn't exercise his abilities. Hence Richard decided to enter the political arena. After being refused from both the Democratic and Republican parties.....Richard entered theCommunist party after hearing of there efforts to promote equality among races.

While in the Communist Party, Richard's writings began to have a direct influence on many people. He was a leading contributor to the magazine and newspapers –"Daily Worker" and "New Masses" which held very controversial beliefs for the time. His novels, Uncle Tom's Children (1938) and Native Son (1940) were written while he was in the party. Richard was one of a few black men in the Communist Party and it was because of him that many black American's began to look to the Communist Party. Because of a lack of results and his outspoken militancy, Wright broke away from the party in 1944. The essay, "The God that Failed", gives an oversight to why Richard disagreed with the Communist party. According to the Communist Party, Richard was not writing about what they wanted such as ways to come together and fight against others,he was reflecting the life of the black American and the Communists found this to have little importance to what they were trying to portray.

Richard Wright The Power Of Book Summary

Introduction: Background: "The Power of Books" is about a white coworker who helped right to gain access to the public library. It is the key episode from Black Boy. Thesis Statement: Richard Wright's "The Power of Books" show the importance of reading. Richard show that even if we are not allowed to have library cards while we are dying to read; there will be someone who is going to help. Body: Main Idea 1 Richard is in critical stage to read, but blacks are not permitted library cards. Supporting Details While reading the Commercial Appeal, Richard comes across an article on H. L. Mencken. He likes the article so he want to read other works of the author. Blacks are not permitted to borrow books from the public library. Main Idea 2

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In the essay, "A Visit to the Library" , written by Richard Wright, the author suggests that if an individual reads, then it could change the way method in which one interprets racism and how it connects with the personal life of the Negros in the south. Wright supports his thesis with the explanations and details about the experiences he had with his co–workers, a librarian, and other white men. Wright's purpose of this essay was to inform individuals how important reading is in order to be able to help acknowledge racism and why it is looked at with a lower gaze in the south. The intended audience for this article is anyone who has undergone racism in the south. After reading Wright's essay, I am surprised at the potential he had to read...show more content...

Wright had continued to acknowledge his knowledge of racism by the way he was questioned by the librarian when she asked if the books he was getting were for him, in which he replied by saying, "Oh, no, ma'am. I can't read" (Wright 144). Wright describes the situation where he'd wrap the books up in newspapers so he could cover up what he was reading, but his co–workers would yet go into his package and then inquire him about it. When Wright stated, "It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look the world different" (Wright 145), he reveals how much reading can make a change in one's life. From reading those books, Wright had learned a lot, but was cautious of not showing it. Wright was aware of how much the north would be would be better for him and his family versus the south, but also realized how he had no other option than the

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Summary: The Effects Of Richard Wright's Stuggle

The Effects of Richard Wright's Stuggles Chicago, home to Richard Wright in Black Boy, poses several challenges to Wright. Outlined in this autobiography, Wright discusses the struggles he overcame throughout his life to reach the success he sought after. Reminiscing on his younger days through the book, Wright writes about growing up through a tough childhood, eventually leading to how this influenced him as an adult. With the ambitions of reaching the North and becoming successful, Wright goes on a journey through life to accomplish these goals. Wright uses the rhetorical strategies of point of view and repetition to examine how these struggles influenced him. The point of view throughout the entire novel is first–person from Wright's eyes....show more content...

For example, Richard is constantly complaining about his hunger as a child. Since his family cannot always afford food, he is often starving and malnourished, literally hungry for food. However, as Wright continues to state that he is hungry throughout the novel, it becomes evident that Richard is hungry not just for food, but for success. As stated in Sarah J. Turner's article "An Insatiable Hunger: A Literary Analysis of Richard Wright's Autobiography, 'Black Boy'," Richard yearns to fulfill his goals and ambitions of being successful and free from the racism of the South. "...despite the antagonistic and demoralizing experience Wright experiences in his family, he is able to maintain his hunger for a better life, one that he could better comprehend." In this case, the repetition of hunger reveals an underlying metaphorical meaning of being hungry for success, which ties in as an influence to his future ambitions of moving North and becoming successful. Wright also hungers for acceptance. An example of this is when Richard is trying to fit in with the other children so he goes along with them and does whatever they do, regardless of the fact that he does not have a particular interest in these activities. As Wright explains these stories though, he acknowledges that the crowd is not always right, specifically citing situations where the masses group together to persecute African Americans. Wright chooses to repetitively use grim childhood stories because they tie into Richard's desire for success. Due to these struggles, Richard is able to bloom into a successful writer. After the firsthand experience of numerous struggles, Richard realizes that he needs to work hard to escape his present situation and obtain a better life in the North. It is these childhood struggles that influence him in choosing to move North and become a Get

Richard Wright Research Paper

The Themes and Styles of Richard Wright Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908 and died on November 28, 1960. Richard Wright grew up in Mississippi to Nathan Wright and Ella Wilson. Both his parents were born after the Civil War however, his grandparents were born into slavery and became free after the war. Richard Wright had a very rough childhood due to racism and the way he was treated at home. He wrote during a time when race relations were very tense and his works reflects that. He wrote a variety of literary pieces ranging from novels to poetry. He is best known for the controversial novel called Native Son, which is about an African–American man's struggles growing up in Chicago. As well as the novel called Black Boy, which is about his childhood in the south. Both books were met to critical acclaim but were both seen as controversial because they both realistically, and show the harshness of the lives of African–Americans during his time period. Richard Wright was one of the first successful African–Americans to address and bring light to the problems of racism in America....show more content... His themes derived from his life experiences as a young boy growing up in the south to his political affiliations in life. The styles of Richard Wright include the point–of–view in which he writes stories as well as, the settings of the novels. One main theme of Richard Wright was racism, and many of his novels were written when African–Americans were suffering due to the very poor race relations. In his stories, Richard Wright portrays the struggle of African–Americans through environmental struggles as well as through their perpetual hunger and poverty. Richard Wright's novels serve as a representation of the struggle of the African–American community and help bring light to their hardships as, blacks living in

Between The World And Me

By Richard Wright

The poem "Between the World and Me" by Richard Wright reanimates the horrible scene of a racial lynching and forces the reader to endure the victim's pain through the first person's narrative voice. The poem contains structured lines and visual division into three stanzas. Moreover, there is one more type of division in the poem. The author uses an ellipsis four times throughout the poem. This punctuation mark frames the poem into the timeline, where the historical past of the African Americanpoet becomes the present experience of any human, despite the race. The climax of the poem is presented in the middle of stanza two. The animated moment, which starts from the sentence "the ground gripped my feet", dramatically shifts the...show more content...

Not just a murder, but the act of lynching. The "smell of gasoline" and "traces of tar" signals that perpetrators of lynching burned the victim to death. After the ellipses, there is a shift back to the poetic "I". The speaker states that while starring into the sockets of the victim's skull, he becomes "frozen" with the "pity for the life that was gone". This transitional sentence separates the scene of the already occurred murder from the present material world. The material world revives around the speaker in the next sentence of the poem. In this massive sentence, Wright dramatically personifies the nature in order to transform the cruel historical scene into the current time. However, the significant transformation of the poetic "I" to the "thing" starts when "the ground gripped" the poet's feet. From that line, the personified ground captures the speaker, and from the observer of already happened images of the lynching, he revives as a participant in the present scene. In this scene, when the dry bones "melting themselves" into the poet's bones, he becomes the victim of the lynching. The last minutes of the victim's life are graphically presented in the third stanza of the poem. The first person's perspective is a very powerful element, which Wright uses in order to put any reader into the African Americans unlawful suffering from the terror lynching. Furthermore, it is obvious that in the Richard

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In his short story, The Man Who Was Almost a Man, Richard Wright uses realism to illustrate Dave's struggle to come to terms with his identity, as well as the intricacies of adulthood. After convincing his mother to let him buy a gun, he inadvertently shoots and kills his work mule the next day. However, the ways in which Dave handles his various predicaments are immature and juvenile approaches that detract the maturity he desires. Instead of confessing to accidentally killing his work mule, Dave invents a dubious tale to avoid the consequences of his actions. Later that night, when he goes to retrieve the gun from its hiding place, Dave considers but quickly dismisses the idea of shooting at Mr. Hawkins's house, a rather immature way of redeeming

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It's interesting to see Baldwin as a transformative artist. He tried for so long to follow in the footsteps of Wright, but he realized that he needed to be his own person. He exceeded in having his work as a creative, decorative and even musical endeavor. However, in order to do this he had to surpass Wright. For Wright, he never really found his place in the world. Towards the end of his life he still saw the world as divided between black and white. But that war in the breast between blackness and whiteness, which caused Richard such pain, need not be a war. It is a war which just as it denies both the heights and depths of our natures, takes, and has taken, visibly, and invisibly, as many white lives as black ones. And, as I see...show more content...

Miller states, "For him, a 'good writer' was a writer who was not content to pander to public taste or fame" (96–97). Even though he was under appreciated during his lifetime, he still fulfilled his goal of becoming an author. Today, he is greatly appreciated, his artistic style is exceptional. According to Miller, "Baldwin could not win in the eyes of his critics during his lifetime: he was trapped by the racial context for his writing and judged expectations, vacillating between strictly aesthetic and the strictly political, that were very much the products of a turbulent time. Baldwin found himself inhabiting neither place rather than both (104). Although he was neglected by critics during his lifetime, his works are being studied today because scholars have realized that they undermined his artistic abilities. Miller explains,"Baldwin's previously neglected works, resulting in a work that represents the culmination of the recent trends in Baldwin studies. These works together indicate a willingness to read Baldwin thoroughly, to shed light on some of the works that had been critically dismissed, and to explore a plurality of contexts in order to recognize fully the accomplishments of this complex writer"(108). It's wonderful that scholars are now more appreciative towards Baldwin's work. According to Field, "Since 2001, nearly two hundred scholarly studies of Baldwin have appeared..." (1148). He deserves all the Get more content

The African–American literary period of Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism, also referred to as the Age of Wright, was when the writers and artist would expose the realities and identities of living in America and the harshness of society. This African–American literary period would begin around the time the Great Depression ends and would end the year in the death of Richard Wright, which was 1960. One of the most notable writers of this period was, of course, Richard Wright. By his way of thinking and the way he wrote literature, "Wright [had] effectively executed his own blueprint by rejecting what Locke termed the 'decadent aestheticism' of Harlem Renaissance writers and by drawing on the presumably more 'nourishing' elixir of Marxism and social protest" (Gates, 97). Richard Wright's Blueprint for NegroWritingappeared in the journal New Challenge that he and other African–American writers had published in 1937. Although Richard Wright's Blueprint for Negro Writing was written before 1940, this literature work makes an excellent representation of Urban Realism. This text represents this literary period because it tells about the reality, but also the promotion of success in African–American literature by criticizing black culture and nationalism in literary works.

Richard Wright's Blueprint for Negro Writing uses criticism to aid in promoting the success of African–American writers. He did this because of how he viewed the literature standards and works of the writers

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Theme Of Racism In Richard Wright's Black Boy

In the autobiography Black Boy by Richard Wright, he chronicles his life as a boy dealing with racism of the south in the early 1900's. Richard leaves his town in Mississippi to live with his uncle after his mother suffers from paralytic strokes. Eventually, he leaves his uncle and sets out on his own, encountering injustice along the way.Racism and prejudice impacts the lives of every man and women in many facets of life. In Black Boy, Richard Wright explores the effects of racism in his education. When Richard wants to read, he is forced to gain the help of another outsider, an Irish Catholic man who is also hated by the white southerners. Richard approaches the Irishman and says, "'I want to read. I can't get books from the library. I wonder if you'd let me use your card?'"(245). Richard is helped by a white man to get books from the library, as black people were societally not allowed to read. Racism affects Richard's life because his education and his ability to gain knowledge is halted by the racist white southerners. When Richard was valedictorian and had to make a speech to the white men, his principal forced him to use the prewritten speech. When Richard tries to use his own speech, his professor tells him, "'Wake up, boy. Learn the world you're living in. You're smart and I know what you're after'" (176). Richard's professor is telling Richard that because black people are oppressed, Richard shouldn't share his opinion and experience on racial injustice through his speech. He is safer using the principal's speech because it is the same speech that worked for years and didn't anger the white people as his speech did not mention oppression or race. Richard's education is negatively impacted by racial injustice Not only does prejudice affect race, but it also impacts gender. On October 9th, 2012 the pakistani girl, Malala Yousafzai was shot on a school bus by taliban militants. 'In the documentary, "He Named Me Malala", Malala tells her story of the tyrannical oppression by the Taliban against women. Malala tells her story "not because it is unique, because it is not. It is the story of many girls" (Yousafzai). In this quote, Malala is bringing to light the ubiquity of the oppression of women under

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Richard Wright 's Impact On Society

Undoubtedly, Richard Wright was a patient who was anything but stagnant. Almost every aspect of the youth was fickle, especially the world surrounding him. However, there was one significant feature of Richard that was not prone to transition: his frame of mind. After my first session with Richard, I perceived almost instantaneously that Richard was the sufferer of major depressive disorder. On the disposition spectrum, Richard lingered at the bottom with perpetual melancholy. His frame of mind was virtually static, with episodes of mania and normal mood few and far between. I took Richard under my wing with the sole intention of helping him contend with this monster of the human psyche. Let us review the progress Richard and I have made in that psychological strife. For our first session, to say that Richard appeared crestfallen would have been an understatement. It was in this session that Richard disclosed to me his position on the disposition spectrum and why. It was then that I came to the realization that Richard had a textbook case of major depressive disorder, which is characterized by prolonged dejection and seldom occasions of mania and/or normal mood. In addition, Richard told me of his perpetual hunger, which he attributed to the recent behavior of his father, Nathan Wright. According to Richard, Nathan left him and the rest of thefamily high and dry in order to live with a mistress, an action Richard deemed "unacceptable." Without Nathan's income, the family

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Richard Wright And The Harlem Renaissance

The first source is about the Harlem Renaissance that took place in 1920's. The Harlem Renaissance represented the rebirth of African American culture and showed the unaddressed problems among the black community. During that time, Richard Wright made a name for himself, writing books based on the racism that the black community faced and communism like Black Boy and Native Son. TheHarlem Renaissance was a direct influence on Wright's work because he wrote about what was going on at that time. More specifically, Black Boy was written off of Wright's childhood struggles and what it was like to be a black kid in the 1920's. The Harlem Renaissance caused him to speak out about his experiences. The source is written by R. A. Lawson and...show more content...

Wright speaks on and writes about these subject because he was there and they had a direct influence on him as a person of color. Wright, later, wrote about his encounter because he felt as if he could contribute to the Civil Rights cause. This source is written by Richard Wright and published by Harper and Brothers.

The fourth source is about The Great Depression' impact on African Americans. In the excerpt, it talks about how some of the greatest writers came out of The Great Depression and Wright was one of them. In his books, he writes about the times of The Great Depression and how it affected everyone, not just the black community. This source is the same as the other ones as it expresses exigence, but it's not of the same topic and, like the second and the first, this is a secondary source. Wright writes about how he expected the transition from the South to the North to be better, but it is, in fact, worse. He also speaks of the hardships that came with failure of the economy because witnessed it first hand. Part of his exigence is The Great Depression because he lived through it. This source is written by Joe W. Trotter and edited by Robert S. McElvaine.

The fifth source is a biography about Wright and his accomplishments. In a specific part, it walks about how Wright "emerged as an international literary figure championing the cause

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Richard Wright: A Controversial Writer

Richard Wright was born on September 4, 1908 on a Mississippi plantation. Richard was an author wrote controversial novels, poems, non–fiction and stories. Wright was the most influential African–American in the twentieth century. He was a grandson of slaves, so most of Wright's work was involved in racial subjects. Which concerned African–Americans during the nineteen and mid–twenties century. Richard's life was rough, his father abandoned his family when Richard was only five years old, he didn't rarely had food in his home, he started late school because he didn't have clothe to wear, he never graduated high school, and was beaten severely. Richard wrote books like "Uncle Tom's Children", "Native Son", and "Black Boy". The writing of Richard

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