About
Richard Wright
Overview
His powerful, eloquent work examined the injustices African-Americans face in a white society. He won immediate fame for his first novel, "Native Son" (1940). It tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young chauffeur whose inarticulate rage over his lot ultimately erupts into violence. "Native Son" was adapted into a play directed by Orson Welles in 1941, filmed in 1951 with Wright himself playing Bigger, and again in 1986. Wright's other books include "Black Boy" (1945), an autobiography; the novels "The Outsider" (1953) and "The Long Dream" (1958); the story collections "Uncle Tom's Children" (1938) and "Eight Men" (1961); and the philosophical volumes "Black Power" (1954) and "White Man, Listen!" (1957). Richard Nathaniel Wright was born near Natchez, Mississippi. Largely self-educated, he began to write after moving to Chicago around 1927. He was a member of the Communist Party from 1932 to 1944; he later wrote of his disillusionment with that system in "The God That Failed" (1949), a collection of essays by former party members. Wright lived in Paris from 1946 until his death. A second book of memoirs, "American Hunger," was published posthumously in 1977.
Known for
Acting |
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2009 | Richard Wright: Native Son, Author and Activist | Actor | Self | N/A N/A |
1951 | Native Son | Actor | Bigger Thomas | 58 Average |
Writing |
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2019 | Native Son | Writing | Novel | 58 Average |
1996 | America's Dream | Writing | Story | 59 Average |
1988 | The Catwalk | Writing | Novel | 58 Average |
1986 | Native Son | Writing | Writer | 59 Average |
1976 | Almos' a Man | Writing | Short Story | N/A N/A |
1967 | Savage Sunday | Writing | Writer | 58 Average |
1951 | Native Son | Writing | Novel | 58 Average |