'Hurling words into the darkness'

 

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” – Richard Wright

 

Born in Roxie, Miss., on this date in 1908, Wright authored at least two American literary classics – the novel Native Son, published in 1940, and his autobiographical Black Boy in 1945.   Self-taught as a writer, his works have been studied and held up as “keys to helping change the conversation about race relations in the United States.”  

 

Much of his work focuses on the discrimination and violence suffered by African Americans during the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.   Over the course of his relatively short life (he died in 1960), Wright authored hundreds of journalistic pieces, many short stories, 17 novels and nonfiction books, poetry, and dozens of hard-hitting essays.  In the process he won numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.  In 2010 he was inducted into the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. 

“I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo,” Wright said.  “And if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.”