The Writer’s Racial Paradox: August Wilson, Choosing the Black Route

Abstract

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, critically acclaimed African-American playwright, August Wilson was one of the 20th century’s foremost writers who highlighted the struggles of the African-American community. A victim of racial discrimination himself, Wilson was terrified as a child as he experienced traumatic episodes of racism in school. Not only was he kicked out of school for being the only African American, but he was also threatened and abused to the point of being physically assaulted. It was these experiences that deeply marked young Wilson, so much so that he began to express his feelings through his writings. One of the first African-American men to achieve success on Broadway, Wilson was instrumental in shaping the African-American movement and highlighting their plight in the eyes of people around the world. For Wilson, the African-American community had, has and will always have a different view of life, because that view was built from a very different past from the white community, and that past affects to the present the way the black acts, his decision-making, his interaction with others, something that in his opinion was never accepted by the white community.

Keywords

• african-american community
• discrimination
• identity
• race theatre
• wilson august