When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”

Wright’s once controversial, now celebrated autobiography measures the raw brutality of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive as a black boy. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him—whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel and blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he may his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of Black Boy, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to “hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.” More than seventy-five year later, his words continue to reverberate. “To read Black Boy is to stare into the heart of darkness,” John Edgar Wideman writes in his foreword. “Not the dark heart Conrad searched for in Congo jungles but the beating heart I bear.”

One of the great American memoirs, Wright’s account is a poignant record of struggle and endurance—a seminal literary work that illuminates our own time.

See other items in our Educated Category by clicking here.*

----

Afflatus is the gift shop of Davis Inspirations Studios, a mobile art center dedicated to Art and Life Planning. We focus on self care & self image products to strengthen mental, physical and emotional health for all creatives in action and in heart. Whether you customize your order or buy a ready made gift, we always provide inspiring gifts for inspiring moments! Based in Pasadena, Ca. we specialize in gifts for artists, HBCUs, D9s (Sororities: Sigma Gamma Rho, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta and Fraternities: Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Iota Phi Theta) and the people who love us! Great gift for every holiday such as Christmas, Kwanzaa, Valentine's Day, Juneteenth, Birthday, Anniversary, Crossing, Neophyte, Wrap and other special occasions for musicians, dancers, actors, actresses, singers, cast and crew in film, television and theatre from studios to independent artists!