Black Boy (1945) is an autobiography by Richard Wright. Depicting Wright's life in great detail, the book tells the story of his troubled youth and race relations in the South. Through Wright's own story, it portrays the struggles of African-Americans in the early 1900s. Readers meet Richard as a secular-minded child surrounded by racism. He must overcome those struggles to bring himself and loved family members to the north, where he becomes inv...
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Black Boy (1945) is an autobiography by Richard Wright. Depicting Wright's life in great detail, the book tells the story of his troubled youth and race relations in the South. Through Wright's own story, it portrays the struggles of African-Americans in the early 1900s. Readers meet Richard as a secular-minded child surrounded by racism. He must overcome those struggles to bring himself and loved family members to the north, where he becomes involved with the Communist party.
Richard Wright described himself growing up in Mississippi with family members who embraced religion. On one occasion, to get back at his father for making him feel powerless, Richard defied him by taking a more literal interpretation of the command to kill a kitten. He hung the kitten by the neck. His plan backfired when his mother and brother instilled in him guilt; his mother instructed him to take down the kitten and give it a proper burial.
Young Richard's father ended up leaving the family for another...
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