1. August Wilson & Fences

2. Life & Background
Born in Pittsburgh to a white father (Frederick August Kittle) who never lived with his family and a black mother (Daisy Wilson) from North Carolina. He shared life with his mother and five siblings.
1960s - Flunked out of 9th grade and at worked menial jobs beginning at age 16. He received his education in libraries and in town hubs.

3. Life & Background
1960s s - Became involved in the civil rights movement and began to describe himself as black nationalist.
Moved to Minneapolis and began to write, clearly using speech patterns and rhythms that were familiar to him from black neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. his writing was also strongly influenced by the blues.

4. Life & Background
Began writing plays in Pittsburgh and then took a job in St. Paul writing dramatic skits for the Science Museum of Minnesota.
Founded and directed the Black Horizon Theatre Company in Pittsburgh in a predominantly black neighborhood referred to as the Hill.

5. Life & Background
In 1972 he began writing a play, Jitney, about a Gypsy cab station, which was produced in 1978 at Black Horizon and in 1982 at the Eugene O'Neill Center's National Playwright Conference. The play was revived and presented at the 1997 National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

6. The Pittsburgh Cycle
1900s – Gem of the Ocean
1910s – Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
1920s – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (set in Chicago)
1930s – The Piano Lesson
1940s – Seven Guitars
1950s – Fences
1960s – Two Trains Running
1970s – Jitney
1980s – King Hedley II
1990s – Radio Golf
A series of 10 of Wilson’s plays, nine of which are set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, each set in a different decade
All designed to represent the African American people’s existence in the United states during the 20th century

7. Pulitzer Prize Winning Plays
Fences
Written in 1985
Pulitzer Prize in 1987
The Piano Lesson
Written in 1989
Pulitzer Prize in 1990

8. August Wilson’s Death
In August 2005, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and given 3-5 months to live
He died on October 2, 2005 at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle

9. Fences
Fences presents a slice-of-life in a black tenement in the Hill Disctrict of Pittsburgh? set in the late 1950s through 1965.

10. Troy Maxson Maxson is a combination of Mason-Dixon line
Troy’s first name suggests the legendary city of Troy
He served time in prison for homicide
Troy became an excellent baseball player but could never become a “pro”
He tends to exaggerate his accomplishments.
He grew up with an abusive father

11. Rose Maxson Rose is committed to family and the church
She attempts to intervene between Troy and their son Cory
She also attempts to have her husband see his life more realistically since Troy exaggerates his accomplishments

12. Other Significant Characters
Jim Bono— Troy’s best friend, they met in jail, looks up to Troy
Lyons— Troy’s first son before he was married to Rose, talented musician
Gabriel— Troy’s brother, war veteran with a permanent head injury
Cory— teenage son of Troy and Rose, plays football
Raynell— Troy’s illegitimate daughter from Alberta