Overview
RICHARD WRIGHT was an African-American author of novels, short stories and non-fiction that dealt with powerful themes and controversial topics. Much of his works concerned racial themes that helped redefine discussions of race relations in America in the mid-20th century. Born on a plantation in Mississippi, Wright was a descendent of the first slaves who arrived in Jamestown Massachusetts. This program follows his arduous path from sharecropper to literary giant. Through authors like H.L. Menken, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, he discovered that literature could be used as a catalyst for social change. In 1937 Wright moved to New York and his work began to garner national attention for it's political and social commentary. Much of Wright's writing focused on the African American community and experience; his novel Native Son won him a Guggenheim Fellowship and was adapted to the Broadway stage with Orson Welles directing in 1941.
Production
TMW
Cast & Characters
Richard Wright
Self
More Like This
When We Were Kings
1996
That World Is Gone: Race and Displacement in a Southern Town
2010
Once Upon a Time in Harlem
2026
Still A Brother: Inside the Negro Middle Class
1968
Anny Duperey, artiste en équilibre
2025
What The Durrells Did Next
2019
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
2021
The N Word
2006
The Geographies of DAR
2023
Ed McClanahan: Kentucky Muse
1995