August Wilson remains one of the greatest playwrights in American and Black history, as no other playwright has developed such an ambitious oeuvre. He is remembered for writing a series of 10 plays to celebrate African American life, two of which have become successful films (Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom).
His work has been well-recognized over time, winning two Pulitzer Prizes, five N.Y. Drama Critics Awards, a Tony Award, and an American Theater Critics Award. Wlilson’s work has also been inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, American Theater Hall of Fame, and the National Humanities Medal.
This is no small feat for a bi-racial child who came from a humble background.
August Wilson was born in 1945 as Fredrick August Kittel Jr. in Pittsburgh to Daisy Wilson and Frederick August Kittel Sr. His mother raised the six children alone after their father, August Kittel, left. Being a biracial child presented many problems for the young lad as he was often bullied at school. He dropped
out of school two times before quitting school entirely to educate himself. First, it was due to bullying, then he found the curriculum unchallenging in the second school. August joined the last school but quit after he was accused of plagiarizing a paper. Fearing to disappoint his mother, he turned to self-education. He would read extensively at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh during school hours and then go home to interact with the residents. Literature from Black writers particularly fascinated him, drawing much inspiration for his plays. While reading, he discovered W.E.B. Du Bois’s playwriting principle of creating a true black theater, a style he stuck to religiously.
There’s no idea in the world that is not contained by black life.
August Wilson
I could write forever about the black experience in America.
Wilson then began writing poems after falling out with his mother, who wanted him to study law. He would write in cafes, bars, and local cigar stores on table napkins, describing the events, characters, and voices around him. He would collect the napkins and type plays using a typewriter he had purchased for $10. His great memory and ability to articulate accents and dialects distinguished him from other playwrights.
August wrote his first play, Jitney, in the early 1980s after moving to Minnesota, whose setting was the 1970s cab drivers. The play was only published in 2000 after many revisions. He later released Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the most popular play in African American history, culminating in a movie in 2020.
The play’s setting was in Chicago (in 1927) and featured an abusive blues singer, her Black musicians, and a white manager. Wilson followed it up with Fences, a commercial success, getting a film adaptation in 2016.
Fences is set in the 1950s and features a conflict between a son and a father. The play was so good that it received a Tony Award for Best Play. Wilson also credits his community and upbringing with inspiring his plays. All his plays except one depict his life in Pittsburgh Hill District.
He often emphasized that he didn’t write for black or white audiences, but chronicled the black experience in America. August Wilson wrote many other plays still being adapted into films and receiving awards, albeit posthumouslyWilson reported that he had been diagnosed with liver cancer in June 2005 and been given three to five months to live. He died at age 60 on October 2 of that year at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle and was interred at Greenwood Cemetery, Pittsburgh. He left an indelible mark in Black History, particularly in the black theater scene.
I don’t go by what the law say. The law’s liable to say anything.
August Wilson
I go by if it’s right or not. It don’t matter what the law say. I take and look at it for myself.