Brett McClure & Ryan Sanders

Born in 1908 near Natchez, Mississippi His father left the family when Richard

was 5 He was raised by his relatives for the

next 10 years He lived in poverty and his education

didn’t go beyond junior high Experienced racism growing up, which

would become the subject of many of his works

He moved to Memphis in 1925, then Chicago in 1927

He joined the WPA Writer’s Project and began to study Marxist theory, writing poetry for literary magazines

He joined the Communist party in 1932 In 1935 he worked with a group of African

American writers and started to write fiction, influenced by the work of James T. Farrell

He moved to New York in 1937 He wrote for the New York Writers Project

and as a reporter on the communist Daily Worker

Published Uncle Tom’s Children in 1938 Published Native Son in 1940, the first

bestseller by an African American author He then started to write autobiographical

stories, including Black Boy published in 1945

In 1944 he broke away from the Communist party

He moved to Paris, France in 1946, producing 2 novels, 3 collections of lectures, travel writings, and sociopolitical commentary

In 1957 he contracted amoebic dysentery, which caused his health to deteriorate over the next few years

He died in Paris of a heart attack in 1960, at 52 years old

Wright wrote many different kinds of literature: Non-Fiction Fiction Essays Poetry Short Stories Long Stories Novels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdM-fueKkY

How “Bigger” Was Born; the Story of Native Son in 1940

12 Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States in 1941

Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth in 1945 Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of

Pathos in 1954 The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung

Conference in 1956 Pagan Spain in 1957 White Man, Listen! in 1957 Letters to Joe C. Brown in 1968 American Hunger (which was a continuation of Black

Boy) in 1977

Essays: The Ethics Of Living Jim Crow: An

Autobiographical Sketch Introduction to Black Metropolis: A Study of

Negro Life in a Northern City I Choose Exile White Man, Listen! The Man Who Lived Underground

Poetry: Haiku: This Other World

Novels: Native Son in 1940

Uncle Tom’s Children: Four Novellas in 1938 Uncle Tom’s Children: Five Long Stories in

1938 Bright and Morning Star (part of Uncle Tom’s

Children) in 1938 Native Son in 1940 The Outsider in 1953 Savage Holiday in 1954 The Long Dream in 1958 Eight Men (collection of long and short stories)

in 1961 Lawd Today in 1963

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow Big Boy Leaves Home Down By the Riverside Long Black Song Fire and Cloud Bright and Morning Star

Characters Sue

Main character Mother of Johnny-boy and Sug

Johnny-boy Leader communist group

Reva Sue’s niece

Sheriff Wants to get rid of communist group

Booker Undercover for the Sheriff

Sue is the mother of Johnny-boy, who is the leader of a communist group. The sheriff wants to destroy the group and with the help of Booker, an undercover ally of the sheriff, he obtains when the next meeting will be held. So Johnny-boy leaves to warn the other members and while he is gone the Sheriff comes to Sue and Johnny-boy’s house and beats up Sue. When Sue awakes Booker urges her to give her the names of top members of the party. She does and later finds out that he is working for the Sheriff.

So she comes up with a plan to hide a gun under a sheet that the Sheriff tells her to bring to get Johnny-boy, who they have caught, and shoot Booker before he can give out the names. Her plan works and she kills Booker, but because so Johnny-boy and herself are murdered

Themes “Ma, Ah done tol yuh a hundred times. Ah

cant see white n Ah cant see black,” Johnny-Boy said. “Ah sees rich men n Ah sees po men.”

Style Historical Context