As a native Mississippian, I am embarrassed to say that I was not aware of Richard Wright until I was well into adulthood. He was born in Roxie, MS which is only a few miles away from my maternal family origins, and yet I had never heard of this groundbreaking author.
I picked up Black Boy as I began to grow this blog...after all...how can I call Mississippi my home and still haven't read his books? Black Boy, which was published in 1945 after Wright had become an established writer, details Wright's childhood and early adult years growing up in the Jim Crow South. His narratives about his childhood detail their family's abject poverty, constant malnutrition, ever present familial tension in his home, as well as the daily racial tension and anxiety in his daily life, After his dad leaves and his mom is paralyzed due to a stroke, Richard is shuttled around among relatives, and spent several years of his childhood in Jackson, MS. His education was very disrupted and he rarely finished a school year in the same school in which it started, ending his education in the 9th grade. Despite his lack of formal education, he was a voracious reader and would borrow a library card (from a white coworker since there was no library access for African Americans), to read novels from worldly authors. Considering he had so little education, this book is so well written, easy to understand and pulls you in from the first chapter where he set fire to his Grandmother's house as a young child.. His book Native Son is now officially on my TBR pile! From the Publisher: "Richard Wright grew up in the woods of Mississippi, with poverty, hunger, fear, and hatred. He lied, stole, and raged at those around him; at six he was a "drunkard," hanging about taverns. Surly, brutal, cold, suspicious, and self-pitying, he was surrounded on one side by whites who were either indifferent to him, pitying, or cruel, and on the other by blacks who resented anyone trying to rise above the common lot. Black Boy is Richard Wright's powerful account of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. It is at once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment—a poignant and disturbing record of social injustice and human suffering." More information about Richard Wright: blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/ten-things-you-should-know-about-richard-wright
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