August Wilson

August Wilson (1945-2005), American playwright, whose plays chronicled black American life in the 20th century, with each play representing one decade. Many of Wilson’s dramas deal with conflict between African Americans who accept mainstream American culture and those who want to embrace their African heritage and their role in the black community.

Frederick August Kittel was born in a poor black neighborhood called The Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and most of his plays are set there. He later adopted his mother’s maiden name, Wilson. In the ninth grade Wilson dropped out of school after a teacher accused him of plagiarism because his work was considered “too good” for a black student. He continued his education independently through extensive reading.

During the 1960s Wilson became involved in the civil rights movement. In 1968 he founded the Black Horizons Theater Company, a community theater in Pittsburgh devoted to addressing issues of black Americans. A decade later he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began writing plays for a small theater company there.

In 1985 Wilson’s first major work, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984), won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best play. It portrays the exploitation of Ma Rainey—a real-life, early blues star—by white music executives. Wilson won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his play Fences (1985), in which an embittered ex-baseball player struggles to balance his family obligations with his desire for freedom. In 1990 Wilson won a second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson (1987), in which a brother and sister argue over whether to sell a piano that has tragic significance in their family history: The piano was once traded for their grandparents, who were slaves.

Wilson moved to Seattle, Washington, in the early 1990s and spent the rest of his life there. His other plays include Jitney (1982), Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986), Two Trains Running (1990), Seven Guitars (1995), King Hedley II (1999), and Gem of the Ocean (2003). Just before his death Wilson completed his ten-play cycle with Radio Golf (2005). He also published poetry.