“To tell the truth is the hardest thing on earth, harder than fighting in a war, harder than taking part in a revolution.”
Richard Wright, 1944
2008 marks the centennial of one of America’s most famous native sons. We will celebrate by reading, writing, and studying Richard Wright, and remembering him as a dedicated fighter for justice, freedom, and human rights. He was born in a plantation shack near Natchez, Mississippi, on September 4, 1908, the grandson of slaves and the son of a sharecropper. He had barely an eighth-grade education. A passionate reader and a steady learner, after living in Natchez and Jackson, Mississippi; Helena and West Helena, Arkansas; and Memphis, Tennessee, he moved to Chicago in 1927. Wright transcended his childhood poverty and went on to a celebrated career that spanned three continents, making him one of the most widely known twentieth-century American writers of African descent.
After the success of Uncle Tom’s Children (1938), Native Son (1940), and Black Boy (1945), Wright moved permanently with his family to Paris. We celebrate him because he spoke so forcefully in his own time just as we can find relevance today because of the complex questions he raised and the boldness of his writing. He continues to inspire us because of his belief in writing for the purpose of fostering human understanding and effecting social change. Wright published eighteen books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction during his lifetime. After his death, others have been published, including American Hunger, Rite of Passage, and A Father’s Law (2008). Richard Wright lived a life of political engagement; in addition to his poetry, fiction, and autobiography, he wrote about what he learned from his experiences in Europe, Asia, and Africa. He died of a heart attack in Paris on November 28, 1960.
Richard Wright at 100 project goals:
- To promote and celebrate the work of Richard Wright through reading, discussion, and action.
- To generate interest in a subject through democratic involvement and diverse participation.
- To foster increased intergenerational and intercultural dialogue about a major writer.
- To advance literacy by creating more venues for reading, including community centers and churches.
- To provide increased opportunities for teacher' professional development.
- To encourage the development of new scholarship on Richard Wright.
- To strengthen collaboration between and among community and academic institutions as a way of bridging the divide between the scholarly and public worlds.
Start a reading group today at your school, library, church, community center, or home.