The Power of Indignation: Richard Wright, Black American Novelist

Darryl Lorenzo Wellington recreates the life and times of preeminent Black novelist, Richard Wright. Richard Wright (1908-1960), the author of the novel Native Son (1940) and the autobiography Black Boy (1945) pioneered an influential school of protest literature. He became the first Black writer to pen a bestseller that overtly criticized racism and white supremacy. Born into dire poverty and oppression in segregated Mississippi, his journey to international success was so unlikely that upon meeting him the most famous sociologist of the 1940's asked, "How in hell did YOU happen?"

Following his success, Wright grew disillusioned with the United States, and, in 1947, relocated to France. Before his death in 1960, at age 52, he coined the phrase "Black Power" in support of African anti-colonial revolutions. Darryl Lorenzo Wellington recreates Wright's final days, looking back on his career, while delivering a lecture to an American audience in Paris.

The show is approximately 40 minutes, followed by a ten to fifteen minute Q&A with Wellington, in character as Richard Wright.

This presentation is made possible thanks to the New Mexico Humanities Council’s Speaker’s Bureau.