August Wilson

The tale of Black Americans in history is a complex and significant story in the shaping of the country.  August Wilson, born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became one of the most prominent playwrights in the history of the country, and as a man of African descent, much of his work focused on the lives of Black Americans and the lives they led.  Wilson’s most famous work is undoubtedly the series of plays known as The Pittsburgh Cycle, which highlighted the experience of African Americans over the course of the 20^th century.  The crowning jewel of this series, Fences, written in 1987, is a Pulitzer prize winning play and Tony winner for best play, and is commonly seen as Wilson’s best work.  Wilson became a beacon for African American culture and the house he grew up in the first 12 years of his life still stands to serve that memory.  

Wilson was a strong proponent of highlighting all aspects of African American history after the end of slavery.  This is where his series The Pittsburgh Cycle comes into the life of August Wilson.  This series of plays enabled Wilson to tell this story and show the parts of African American life that were before deemed unimportant.  One such area Wilson pays particular attention to is the work lives of African Americans, and how this shaped their interactions with each other and white people.  This underrepresented aspect of African American culture helps to show the impacts of working in an urban environment during the plays respective time periods, as well as show the intricacies of Black and white relations.  By spanning the series over the course of the 20^th century and separating the plays by decade, Wilson created a story over the course of his life that would have been incomprehensible to do in one work, highlighting his prowess as a story teller and a historian of African American culture and American history.  

The play Fences, which is set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh in the 1950’s, showcasing the life a Black garbage man named Troy and those closest to him in his life.  The play itself became August Wilson’s most important, winning the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 1987 Tony Award for Best Play.  Wilson depicted the play showing conflict at various levels in the main characters life, such as trying to break racial barrier at work and navigating a home life with a son not born to his current wife.  Showing these aspects of a common Black man’s life during this time period is one of the stigmas Wilson became so accustomed to breaking in his work.  He was able to put significance to things other people couldn’t see, and show how it helped shape the story Black Americans.  

August Wilson’s legacy is one cultural significance in that he was able to bring attention to material through a medium that was accessible to all levels of society, from wealthy business owners to a postman.  His ability to deliver history in the form of story is one that serves as an important marker and reminder that small things that some may see as irrelevant play a bigger role within cultures than what may be thought.  As Pittsburgh continues to grow and recognize the importance of its historically Black neighborhoods, the Wilson house serves as an important cultural landmark for those who live in these areas and those who don’t.  It is a reminder of the powerful culture that was built in these neighborhoods and the significance of the stories of those who lived there.  

Heard, Elisabeth J., and August Wilson. "August Wilson on Playwriting: An Interview." African American Review 35, no. 1 (2001): 93-102. Accessed May 20, 2021. doi:10.2307/2903337.

Koprince, Susan. "Baseball as History and Myth in August Wilson's "Fences"." African American Review 40, no. 2 (2006): 349-58. Accessed May 20, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40033723.

Shannon, Sandra G. "August Wilson on a Century of Black Worklife." New Labor Forum 13, no. 2 (2004): 111-21. Accessed May 20, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40342479.