Native Son by Richard Wright

Richard Wright Born in 1908 (Mississippi) Grew up on same plantation that his grandparents had worked on as chattel Abandoned by illiterate father Mother was in ill health Separated from brother and spent time in “orphan home” Escaped and lived with grandmother – hunger, beats him Richard Wright

Jim Crow Laws 1890 – “Separate but Equal” – Plessy vs. Ferguson Named after a show in which a white minstrel “blacked up” Established after Civil War & the Reconstruction that followed “Whites Only” “For Colored Passengers” Left blacks without any qualifications Menial/Underpaid labor Libraries = Whites only Merest whiff of intellectual curiousity invited ridicule from employers / bemusement from friends. Blacks holding books = game; encouraged veritable provocation to racist attack (Doctor, professor) – debasement. Jim Crow Laws

Wright Moves to Chicago Menial and underpaid labor Moved north in 1927 No Jim Crow signs, but a clear color line North is implicitly racist (De facto segregation) Wright knew he had to speak meekly in monosyllables with deliberate stupidity Racism was endemic to America overall Acute overcrowding, disease, many other problems Wright Moves to Chicago

Chicago Improvements Library access Blacks pooled time, money, resources Concentration of resources led to black-run organizations, new charities, newspapers, magazines, banks, sporting clubs Chicago

Wright discovers Marxism Became a member in 1934 – actively wrote to promote revolutionary feelings in Chicago’s working class Explained systems and histories that generated terrible upbringings Ghetto = capitalism’s offspring Sign of its addiction to underpaid labor / dependence on inequality Made Wright feel a sense of belonging Mainly agreed with untenable cruelties of capitalism Homogenized, deindividualized, controlled Eventually separated because he was unsatisfied with their commitment to combating racism and inequality Wright discovers Marxism

Richard Wright - Author Exposed intellectual dishonesty of racism Small acts of intimidation/discrimination secretly acknowledge potential for black equality Wrote Twelve Million Black Voices (1941), Black Boy (1945) Uncle Tom’s Children (1938) Wealthiest black author of his time Richard Wright - Author

What are we reading? Main character: Bigger (Antihero) POV: Third person limited Setting: Chicago – 1930s Plot: A black man is justly accused of murder, but his actions are so shaped by cultural, social, and economic forces that his actions were out of his control. Published: 1940 (Modernist) What are we reading?

Criticisms Feminist Readings No strong female characters Strips women of wit and courage and replaces it with violence Rape, dismemberment, death Violence perpetrates on female body “Female characters are flat, one-dimensional characters, portrayed primarily in terms of their relationships to the male characters…” Criticisms

Native Son Can literature fight injustice? Social commentary on “guilt-hate-fear complex” – Robert Guthrie Whites = unaware of deep-seated racial prejudices Blacks = unable to express themselves with words/economical power use physical power in an effort to avoid confronting fear that leads to violence Both groups see each other as frightening and untrustworthy Native Son

Conversations Go to http://today.io/152g4 Use your first name and last initial Ex: Sarah C Conversations

Unwanted Common Black Culture “the Negro people did not ask for [their cultural nationalism], and deep down, though they express themselves through their institutions and adhere to this special way of life, they do not want it now. This special existence was forced upon them from without by lynch rope, bayonet and mob rule.” Wright believed cultural nationalism kept racism alive. Do you agree? Disagree? How do we solve the problem? Is this present today? Unwanted Common Black Culture

What do you do when you feel powerless?

Are people a product of their environment?