Chester Himes (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
Biography
Chester Bomar Himes was born in Jefferson City, Missouri, on July 29, 1909, to an industrial arts professor and a music teacher who disagreed on social strategy. His dark-skinned father strove for acceptance in a black subculture; his almost-white mother rejected secondary status and made repeated efforts to “pass” as white. Continued confrontations forced his father into increasingly demeaning jobs, ending as a laborer in segregated Cleveland when Himes was ten. Himes felt responsible for family failure, especially when his older brother was blinded in an...
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