Black Boy (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
At a glance:
- Author: Richard Wright
- First Published: 1945
- Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Language or languages, Memory, South or Southerners, Authors or writers, Prejudices or antipathies, Manners or customs, Social life, 1910’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, American Dream, Chicago, Individuality
- Locales: Arkansas, Chicago, IL, Memphis, TN, Mississippi
The Work
Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth stands as a classic African American autobiography. It tells of Richard Wright’s escape from figurative slavery in the South to freedom in the North. The text opens in 1912 on Wright’s earliest memory at age four. Richard is living in Jackson, Mississippi, in the crowded home of his grandparents. The household includes Richard, his mother, father, brother, and his uncle, and it replicates the subhuman living conditions of slaves.
Richard’s father is illiterate and an unskilled laborer; in search of work, he...
[The entire page is 799 words long]
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