Richard Wright, Black Boy

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Richard Wright’s

Black Boy

, published by Harper & Brothers in 1945 to critical acclaim and controversy, held top spot on the national bestseller list for six weeks and eventually went through over half a million copies in its first year. Famously denounced by Mississippi senator and white supremacist Theodore Bilbo as a “dirty… filthy… obscene piece of writing” (qtd.in Rowley 319), the book has since taken its rightful place as a classic of American nonfiction, a work of mythic power and deep insight that speaks to “the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human” (

Black Boy

384).

Wright’s autobiography, originally titled American Hunger, is divided into two sections. Part One, “Southern Night”, treats the

3022 words

Citation: Chura, Patrick. "Black Boy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 May 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6332, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6332 Black Boy 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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