Richard Wright Way (Brooklyn)
Present name:Carlton Avenue
Location:Between Willoughby Avenue and Myrtle Avenue
Honoree: Richard Wright (1908-1960) was an African American writer and poet. He received critical acclaim for “Uncle Tom’s Children,” a collection of four stories and was also well known for his 1940 bestseller “Native Son,” and his 1945 autobiography, “Black Boy.” Raised in Jackson, Mississippi, he was interested in American literature. By the age of 16, a short story he wrote was published in a Southern African American newspaper. In 1927, he moved to Chicago and joined the Communist Party after being frustrated with American capitalism. He joined the Federal Writers’ Project and moved to New York City in 1937. In 1938, “Uncle Tom’s Children” was published earning him a $500 prize from Story magazine and led to a 1939 Guggenheim Fellowship. He published “Native Son” in 1940, which became a bestseller and the first novel written by an African American to be selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club. After becoming disillusioned with both the Communist Party and white America, he moved to Paris. There he wrote four more novels and remained until his death in 1960. (Cumbo)
LL:2021/14