-
August Wilson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 1945. -
Wilson grew up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, a neighborhood that became the setting for many of his plays. The community’s culture deeply influenced his writing.
In 1978 Wilson Moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where his play Jitney was first produced and his national career began. -
Wilson’s father, a white German immigrant, left when August was young. He was raised mainly by his mother, Daisy Wilson, who strongly encouraged his education. -
Wilson attended several schools but faced racism and discrimination from teachers and students. He eventually dropped out of high school at age 15 after being unfairly accused of plagiarism.
-
After leaving school, Wilson spent hours reading at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where he educated himself and studied Black writers and history.
-
Wilson began his writing career as a poet. His early work reflected the struggles and pride of African Americans. -
Wilson joined the Black Arts Movement and co-founded the Black Horizons Theater in Pittsburgh in 1968. He started writing plays focused on African American life and culture.
-
Wilson married Brenda Burton. They had a daughter, Sakina Ansari, before divorcing in the early 1980s. -
Wilson’s play Jitney was produced for the first time. It later became part of his famous Pittsburgh Cycle. -
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom opened on Broadway and was Wilson’s first major success. The play explores racism and exploitation in the 1920s blues scene. -
Wilson won his first Pulitzer Prize for Fences, one of his most famous plays, about an -
The Broadway production of Fences earned the Tony Award for Best Play and solidified Wilson as a leading American playwright. -
This play opened on Broadway and continued his Pittsburgh Cycle, showing African Americans finding identity after slavery. -
Wilson married social worker Judy Oliver; they later divorced. -
Wilson received his second Pulitzer Prize for The Piano Lesson, a story about a family torn between preserving or selling a family heirloom. -
Wilson wrote plays covering each decade of the 20th century, including The Piano Lesson (1987), Two Trains Running (1990), Seven Guitars (1995), and King Hedley II (1999).
-
Radio Golf was written as the last play in his ten-part Pittsburgh Cycle, each play set in a different decade of the 1900s. -
Wilson married Constanza Romero, who worked with him on many productions. They had one daughter, Azula Carmen. -
Wilson announced he had liver cancer but continued working and giving interviews about his legacy. -
Wilson died at age 60 in Seattle, Washington. He left behind a powerful body of work that changed American theatre. -
The August Wilson Theatre on Broadway was renamed in his honor in 2006. His plays continue to be studied, performed, and adapted into award-winning films.
-
https://www.biography.com/writer/august-wilson.
“August https://www.britannica.com/biography/August-Wilson.
“August Wilson.” Pulitzer Prizes, Columbia University, https://www.pulitzer.org/winner/august-wilson.
“August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand.” PBS American Masters, 20 Feb. 2015, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/august-wilson-the-ground-on-which-i-stand-about/3685/.
“The August Wilson Society.” Howard University, https://www.augustwilsonsociety.org.