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Richard
Wright was born 4 September 1908 in Roxie, Mississippi, and died 28
November 1960 in Paris, France. One could sum up his life as a series
of three stages: his youth in the South, his early career in the North
(both Chicago and New York), and his expatriatism in France.
In
1927, after years of family movements through the American South,
Wright moved from Memphis to Chicago, where he would soon go to
work in the post office, an experience
he used in his novel Lawd Today!.
In the early thirties, he began his literary career publishing poetry
and short stories in such magazines as Left Front, Anvil,
and New Masses. The success of Uncle
Tom's Children in 1938 and Native
Son in 1940 propelled Wright to international fame. In 1947,
in reaction to the continued racism he encountered in America, Wright
decided to move to France for an indefinite period. While in France,
Wright took a growing interest in anti-colonial movements and also
travelled extensively. In 1959, the year before his death, Wright
made plans to move with his family to England. While his family
managed to go ahead, Wright was delayed by visa problems. He died
in France.
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