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August Wilson Research Paper

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Recommended: August wilson's influences

Isidore E. Sharpe
Professor Tracy Moore
ENG 104: 20th Century African American Authors and Poets
3 October 2017
August Wilson August Wilson a renowned playwright was born the fourth of seven youngsters on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His birth name was Frederick August Kittel, Jr. He was the son of bi-racial parents, his mother, Daisy Wilson was an African-American and his father, Frederick Kittel, Sr. was a German immigrant. Wilson grew up in an underprivileged area of the city on Bedford Avenue, of Pennsylvania. After his parents divorced, they moved to Oakland a mostly Caucasian neighborhood, where he faced bigotry from his classmates at Central Catholic High School. Due to the confrontations Wilson transferred from school …show more content…

Wilson enjoyed reading Langston Hughes and Ralph Ellison works. This passion soon led Wilson to become a writer, even though his mother desired that he would pursue a law career. Their disagreements over his decision to write, caused a family rift. Wilson left his family home and spent a year in the army. Upon his return to Pennsylvania, Wilson and Rob Penny came together to establish the Black Horizon Theater in 1968. Wilson would host his first plays, Recycling and Jitney, in the Black Horizon Theater (Biography.com). The latter part of the sixties brought about changes, and he became fond of Malcolm X, and he converted to Islam in 1969, with hope of saving to Brenda Burton. Just a couple years later they were …show more content…

Five years later, in 2010, Fences was again recognized with three Tony Awards, for Best Revival of a Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Play and Best Performance by an Actress in a Play. The 2010 version of Fences featured actors Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Also in 2005, the Virginia Theatre in New York was renamed in his honor and this was the first Broadway theatre to be named after an African-American. The August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh, as well as, the August Wilson Way in Seattle, was also named in the honor of August Wilson. The Pittsburgh Cycle was Wilson signal masterpiece, and it has charted the African American experience throughout the twentieth century

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