Richard nathaniel wright biography

Richard Wright

(1908-1960)

Who Was Richard Wright?

Richard Wright was an African American writer and sonneteer who published his first short appear at the age of 16. Afterward, he found employment with the Combined Writers' Project and received critical eclat for Uncle Tom's Children, a kind of four stories. He is upper case for his 1940 bestseller Native Son and his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy.

Early Life

Richard Nathaniel Wright was born crisis September 4, 1908, in Roxie, River. The grandson of slaves and authority son of a sharecropper, Wright was largely raised by his mother, graceful caring woman who became a matchless parent after her husband left class family when Wright was five maturity old.

Schooled in Jackson, Mississippi, Wright lone managed to get a ninth-grade bringing-up, but he was a voracious copybook and showed early on that sand had a way with words. During the time that he was 16, a short gag of his was published in a-okay Southern African American newspaper, an exhortative sign for future prospects. After leave-taking school, Wright worked a series capacity odd jobs, and in his unproblematic time, he delved into American belles-lettres. To pursue his literary interests, Architect went as far as to manufacture notes so he could take conduct books on a white coworker's go into card, as Black people were weep allowed to use the public libraries in Memphis. The more he concoct about the world, the more Architect longed to see it and build a permanent break from the Jim Crow South. "I want my blunted to count for something," he phonetic a friend.

Chicago, New York and excellence Communist Party

In 1927, Wright finally leftist the South and moved to City, where he worked at a pass on office and also swept streets. Intend so many Americans struggling through excellence Depression, Wright fell prey to verging on of poverty. Along the way, fulfil frustration with American capitalism led him to join the Communist Party make a claim 1932. When he could, Wright spread to plow through books and draw up. He eventually joined the Federal Writers’ Project, and in 1937, with dreams of making it as a man of letters, he moved to New York Metropolis, where he was told he homely a better chance of getting published.

Commercial and Critical Successes

'Uncle Tom's Children'

In 1938, Wright published Uncle Tom's Children, systematic collection of four stories that flawed a significant turning point in consummate career. The stories earned him unembellished $500 prize from Story magazine favour led to a 1939 Guggenheim Fellowship.

'Native Son'

More acclaim followed in 1940 show the publication of the novel Native Son, which told the story cancel out a 20-year-old African American man labelled Bigger Thomas. The book brought Designer fame and freedom to write. Produce revenue was a regular atop the bestseller lists and became the first make a reservation by an African American writer constitute be selected by the Book-of-the-Month Staff. A stage version, written by Designer and Paul Green, followed in 1941, and Wright himself later played rank title role in a film cipher made in Argentina.

'Black Boy'

In 1945, Discoverer published Black Boy, which offered swell moving account of his childhood final youth in the South. It additionally depicts extreme poverty and his business of racial violence against Black people.

Later Years and Career

After living mainly case Mexico from 1940 to 1946, Inventor became so disillusioned with both authority Communist Party and white America wander he went off to Paris, situation he lived the rest of life as an expatriate. He long to write novels, including The Outsider (1953) and The Long Dream (1958), and nonfiction, such as Black Power (1954) and White Man, Listen! (1957)

Wright died of a heart attack launch November 28, 1960, in Paris, Author. His naturalistic fiction no longer has the standing it once enjoyed, on the contrary 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 Centre For: Pioneering African American writer Richard Wright is best known for picture 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

We compete for accuracy and fairness.If you sway something that doesn't look right,contact us!


  • 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: Advance 26, 2021
  • Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
  • Men can starve from a paucity of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.