Understanding Richard Wright's Black boy

Understanding Richard Wright's Black boy

by Robert Felgar

Part of The Greenwood Press "Literature in context" series,

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About
In Black Boy, Richard Wright triumphs over an ugly, racist world by fashioning an inspiring, powerful, beautiful, and fictionalized autobiography. To help students understand and appreciate his story in the cultural, political, racial, social, and literary contexts of its time, this casebook provides a rich source of primary historical documents, collateral readings, and commentary. The selection of documents is designed to place in sharp relief the issue of pervasive racism in American society. Documents include excerpts from other autobiographies and a novel, legal documents, speeches, an interview, an anthropological study, magazine and newspaper articles, and contemporary editorials. Most of the documents are available in no other printed form.

Discussion questions for Understanding Richard Wright's Black boy

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  1. 1

    Felgar states his goal is to help readers understand Black Boy within its cultural, political, racial, social, and literary contexts. Which specific primary documents or types of documents in this collection did you find most illuminating in achieving this goal, and why?

  2. 2

    The casebook highlights "pervasive racism" through a variety of sources. How did the cumulative effect of these diverse documents—from legal texts to personal accounts—shape or alter your understanding of the systemic nature of the racism Wright confronted?

  3. 3

    If you had read Black Boy prior to engaging with this casebook, how did Felgar's collection of historical documents and commentary deepen, challenge, or even change your original interpretation of Wright's story?

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