August Wilson
...ws at his new home (Wilson 137). The school to which he transferred, Gladstone High School, was if possible, worse than his neighborhood. Teenagers in his class often left notes on his desk that contained threats or racial comments. Determined to face his problems, Wilson became an “A” student (Wilson 137). Sadly, his teacher was as immature as his students. He accused Wilson of plagiarism because he could not understand how such a well written, term paper came from an African-American (Wilson 138). After facing experiences such as these, Wilson dropped out when he was fifteen and set to educating himself (Wilson 138). August Wilson went to the Carnegie Library and was determined to learn as much as he could (Wilson 138). He had been reading the works of African-American writers since the age of twelve and was fascinated by their books and plays. These authors included Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Arna Bontemps, among others (Wilson 139). Odd jobs were important to Wilson so he could afford to educate himself, for his mother did not have enough money to spare, feeding six children on a small paycheck. When August Wilson was sixteen years old, he started working. His jobs included being a porter, short-order cook, gardener, and a dishwasher (Adler 40). Finally, in 1962, he enlisted in the army for three years. Wilson did not end up completing his term, for he left only a year later in 1963 (Adler 40). August Wilson found his motivation and inspiration coming from the Black Power movement and works of African-Americans. Combined, this gave him enough ideas for his plays. His inspiration came from African-American history, although he did not fully understand it until later years. He listened to a Bessie Smith song, “Nobody Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine” in 1965. This became his first introduction into the world of blues and his culture (Murphy 3). He started reading about his history and realized that he came from an honorable people with a rich past (Murphy 3). It was then, he realized, he wanted to become part of the Black Power movement (Murphy 3). Enjoying writing, he made up his mind to start helping the movement by producing books and plays. His mother tried discouraging him, for she had always wanted him to be an attorney. The resulting argument ended with Wilson being thrown out of the house (Murphy 4). Wilson invested in a small typewriter in 1965 just before he turned the age of twenty (Murphy 4). That year, his father Frederick Kettel died. August Wilson changed his last name to Wilson instead of Kettel, to renounce his biological father because of abandonment (Murphy 4). During his spare time, Wilson wrote poetry, although none of his poems were meant to be published (Murphy 4). August Wilson originally began thinking of ideas for his plays and various works in the 1960’s, when he began writing professionally. One of his earliest plays was written in 1963 for Black Horizons, called Recycle, produced at a Pittsburgh community theater (Bloom 26). The Homecoming, was yet another work, written quite some time later in 1976, about blues singer and guitarist, Blind Lemon Jefferson. This play was not produced until 1989 (Bloom 26). Two Trains Running is a play set in 1969 Pittsburgh. It is about visitors coming to a local diner, discussing various experiences on the streets outside. Different people from all across the United States make up the play, examples are Spanish, Italian, African-American, and common Americans (Bloom 26). The Piano Lesson is set in 1936 in Pittsburgh. The story line is a family of African-Americans that emigrated from Mississippi. The family argues over a piano owned by a former white master of the family that had died (Bloom 27). Fences, Joe Turner’s Come And Gone, Jitney, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Seven Guitars, King Hedley II, and Gem of the Ocean were all plays written by August Wilson (Bloom 28). The majority of these plays were set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where Wilson grew up. They deal with African-Americans in the 1900s, and their struggles throughout life. These plays changed the racist views of African-Americans, and allowed people see into the lives and past of Wilson’s people. During this time period, when he was writing and producing, Wilson was married (1969) and divorced (1972), to a woman named Brenda Burton. The daughter that came from this marriage was named Sakina Ansari Wilson, born in the year 1971 (Bowman 16). Later on, he married Judy Oliver in 1981, who worked as a social worker, yet had no children. He divorced her in 1990 and eventually moved to Seattle (Bowman 16). Several awards were given to August Wilson for his out...