August Wilson

August Wilson (1945-2005) was an award-winning Black American playwright and poet. He is famous for his American Century Cycle of ten plays, nine of which are set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Each play focuses on the struggles of working-class Black Americans who aspire to transcend their circumstances. Set in different decades spanning post-slavery to pre-civil rights America, August Wilson's plays explore the challenge of being Black in a racist society. The New York Times dubbed him the “Theater’s Poet of Black America” in 2005.¹

August Wilson: Biography

August Wilson's biography starts in a historically black neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His father was of German descent and his mother was Black and from North Carolina. Growing up biracial, Wilson struggled to feel connected to either the Black or white communities. His family experienced racial violence when they moved to a predominantly white neighborhood. His father was mostly absent, and later his mother divorced him and remarried. Wilson bounced around three high schools. He dropped out after he was falsely accused of plagiarism.

Fig 1 - The childhood home of August Wilson is where most of his plays are set, in the Hill District of Pittsburgh.

Picking up menial jobs, he spent his free time reading and studying about the Harlem Renaissance at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh through the works of Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, and Richard Wright. He eventually earned his high school degree independently.

Wilson's father died when he was 20, and he aptly changed his last name from "Kittel" to "Wilson" to honor his mother. He began to write poetry in the 1960s, though he was interested in theatre and helped found the Black Horizon Theater in 1968.

Ten years later and still without major success as a poet, Wilson moved to St. Paul, Minnesota. He began to write plays in the late 1960s and continued through the 1970s. Wilson found more mainstream success with his plays in the 1980s, starting with Jitney in 1982. He wrote most of his plays during the 1980s and continued to be a prominent voice in the Black Arts movement for the remainder of his life.

Over the next three decades, Wilson wrote and produced many more plays. He received multiple awards, such as the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for best plays, and he also received Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellowships to continue his writing.

Wilson was diagnosed with liver cancer and died on October 5, 2005.

August Wilson: Poems

While he is most well known for his plays, Wilson's writing started with poems. Wilson listened intently to other customers at cafés and restaurants during his free time. He was also inspired by his first experience listening to a Betty Wilson record. He realized that Black culture was passed down through oral tradition.

Wilson picked up a used typewriter and began compiling his notes. Most of his poetry went unpublished, except for a few poems in Black World and Black Lines. He continued to write poetry, and he would often perform poetry readings. Today, his written poetry is still hard to find, except in the form of his plays.

August Wilson: Plays

Wilson started transforming his poetry inspiration into plays in 1968 when he opened Black Horizon Theater with a student community activist group to promote self-awareness in the Black community. Here he wrote and directed his first play, Recycling (1968).

Fig 2 - The August Wilson Theater was built to honor the playwright and his legacy. The facade is a historic landmark.

Wilson is most famous for his plays, but in particular, The American Century Cycle. This collection of ten plays explores the Black American experience and the human condition. Nine of them are set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, where he grew up. He wrote over sixteen plays in total.

His most well-known plays are Jitney, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and The Piano Lesson.

Jitney (1982)

Passengers turn to “jitneys” (unlicensed taxis) when they need to venture into neighborhoods that other cab drivers won’t. The play is set in a jitney station in 1977 where the drivers’ lives intersect. Many of them held previous occupations, one being a tailor, while two were war veterans. Originally, the production had an extended run, but it was later rewritten by Wilson for a Broadway debut in 2017, winning a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984)

Set in a recording studio in 1927 Chicago, the play follows a band waiting for Ma Rainey, the lead singer, to record music. Veterans in the band clash with the young, ambitious trumpet player, while studio executives grow impatient with their lagging schedule. The play explores the systematic exploitation of Black musicians by white executives, who paid them small sums while continuously earning royalties on the wildly successful hits of many Black artists.

Fig. 3 - The play is based on the real-life Ma Rainey and her band.

Fences (1986)

Fences is the story of the Maxson family struggling against systemic racism in 1950s Pittsburgh. Troy, the father, is a failed baseball player and ex-convict, working as a garbage collector to support his family. His sons aspire to professional careers in football and music. The driving narrative force is the tension between Troy's pessimism about his children’s aspirations and his own failure to live according to his standards. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1987.

Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1988)

Set in the 1910s, the narrative follows the intersecting lives of previously enslaved Black Americans. They struggle to find their place in society while staying at the boardinghouse of Seth and Bertha Holly. The play is noted for its attention to historical details. Many of the residents come from different backgrounds, and their manner of speech reflects this. Many Black people were migrating to the north where racism was less severe, and boardinghouses acted as semi-permanent homes. First staged in 1986, it won several Tony nominations after its Broadway debut in 1988.

The Piano Lesson (1987)

The Piano Lesson explores the sense of identity one creates when one chooses to deny or embrace their past. Two siblings, Bernice and Boy Willie, argue over what to do with a family heirloom piano. The piece has carvings from an enslaved ancestor. Berniece wants to keep it, while Boy Willie hopes to sell it to buy the land he sharecrops. The piano represents the lives and hard work of their parents to build a legacy. First staged as reading, it made its theatrical debut at the Yale Repertory Theater in 1987. It won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

August Wilson: Monologues

Wilson’s plays are famous for their monologues. Often, characters have defining moments where their dialogue is front and center. In Fences, Cory finally confronts his father at the climax of the play. In Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the titular character Ma Rainey quickly establishes her independence and awareness of her exploitation as a black music artist by the white executive recording industry. The fame and success of Wilson’s plays have generated competitions around the country based on the reading of his characters' monologues.

August Wilson: Quotes

Let's further explore the most common themes of Wilson's work with quotes from his plays.

Wilson’s characters struggle with identity and their place in a predominantly white society. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom explores the exploitation of Black people in the music industry. Each character has different aspirations. To realize those aspirations, they have to contend with a white-dominated business. They must decide for themselves what they are willing to do for success. Toledo believes in working together, whereas other characters are more interested in their own career.

Fences explores the racist obstacles that Black people faced in the 1950s. For Troy, joining a baseball team as a Black man was a waste of time. They did not take advantage of a Black player, no matter his level of skill. However, Cory challenges his father and insists that things have changed. Troy is still embittered about his failure to become a professional baseball player and wants to protect his children from the loss he feels.

Wilson’s plays are known for their strong female characters. Berneice is well aware of the sexist limitations placed upon her. She wants to keep the family heirloom piano to honor their legacy, while her brother wishes to sell it. Berniece understands that she needs to advocate for herself and her mother’s legacy. Wilson grew up with three sisters and was mostly raised by his mother. They were feminists without explicitly saying they were. Their refusal to accept the existing state of affairs influenced the characters that Wilson created, and he reflects this in their manner of speech and presentation.

^1. Isherwood, Charles. “August Wilson, Theater’s Poet of Black America, Is Dead at 60”, The New York Times (October 3, 2005).