August Wilson - 1945
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I. Biography August Wilson was born on April 27,1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wilson was the son of Frederick Kittle, a German baker, and Daisy Wilson who was African
American. His father never lived with him. "When he'd visit, he'd bring a big bag of doughnuts and Danish rolls." August grew up with his mother who worked as a
janitor to support August and his five siblings. His mother remarried when he was a young teen. Wilson and his family moved to a predominately white neighborhood where he got his first taste of hatred.
In the late 60's Wilson got involved in the Civil Rights movement. The events in this period are the focus of many of his plays. First, Wilson would have to make it through
high school, which was easier said than done. In 1960, his first year of high school, Wilson dropped out. " My mother was terribly disappointed that the child she thought had the
most potential dropped out of school and wasn't motivated to do anything." Wilson was a bright young kid and continued his education in the town libraries and barbershops.
Wilson first discovered his passion for poetry in 1965. His biggest influences were Dylan Thomas and Amari Baraka. In the early 1970's Wilson began to write plays. In 1977, he wrote
Black Bart and The Sacred Hills. August Wilson is a brilliant playwright and poet. For his two more famous plays, Fences and Joe Turner's Come and Gone, he received the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
II. Literary Works Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is set in Chicago in the 1920's. This play shows the day of
blues legend Gertrude Ma Rainey. The book depicts black musicians being exploited by white record companies. It is a play about racism and rage. It shows the negative affects of human hatred. Fences
, is also a play about racism. A Negro League Baseball player is barred from professional baseball based upon the color of his skin, and not on his abilities or character.
Troy Maxon now works as a garbage collector and struggles everyday with racism and life's hardships. Piano Lesson is Wilson's most appreciated work by both critics and his audience. The
focus of this play is a piano that has been passed down from generation to generation of slaves. The piano had carvings of their family heritage and had great sentimental value.
The family had different opinions about the piano. Some family members wanted to sell the piano so they could buy farmland, and other members wanted to keep the piano in the family's possession.
III. Works by August Wilson Fences (1986)
IV. Sources
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1985)
The Piano Lesson (1990)
Rosewood (1996)
Two Trains Running (1992)
Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988)
Seven Guitars (1997)
Romare Bearden (1990)
The Ground on Which I Stand (2000)
Speak My Name: Black Men on Sexuality and the American Dream (1997)
Three Plays (1991)
Speak My Name: Black Men on Masculinity and the American Dream (1995)
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This essay was submitted by a student of Cheryl Petersohn, a teacher at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania.