August Wilson was an influential African American playwright known for his ten-play Pittsburgh Cycle chronicling the African American experience in the 20th century. Some of his most famous plays include Fences, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Wilson completed the cycle before his death from liver cancer in 2005. Fences, set in the 1950s, focuses on family and generational conflicts within the African American community at that time through the lens of baseball as a symbol.

1. A ugust Wilson
A pril 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005
" Don’ t you worry ‘ bout whether
someone like you; worry ‘ bout whether
they’ re doin’ right by you." F ences

2. A ugust Wilson’ s Plays
In 2005, A ugust Wilson completed a ten-play cycle, nine of which
are set in Pittsburgh, chronicling the A frican A merican experience
in the 20th century:
•1900s – Gem of the Ocean (2003)
•1910s – J oe Turner’s Come and Gone (1984)
•1920s – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982) – set in C hicago
•1930s – The Piano Lesson (1986) – won Pulitzer Prize
•1940s – Seven Guitars (1995)
•1950s – F ences (1985) – won Pulitzer Prize
•1960s – Two Trains Running (1990)
•1970s – J itney (1982)
•1980s – King Hedley II (2001)
•1990s – Radio Golf (2005)

3. Early L ife
• Born as August K ittel in Pittsburgh, later changed his nam e to August
Wilson.
• Wilson was the fourth of seven child ren.
• H is father was a Germ an im m igrant baker, also nam ed Fred erick
August K ittel, who seld om spent tim e with his fam ily, and his m other
was an African Am erican cleaning wom an, D aisy Wilson, from N orth
C arolina.
• Wilson's parents stayed together until he was five; his father raised their
child ren in a two-room apartm ent behind a grocery store.
• This econom ically-d epressed neighborhood was inhabited by m any
black Am ericans as well as others.
• D uring August's teenage years in the late 1 950s, his m other m arried
D avid Bed ford , and the Bed ford fam ily m oved from the H ill to a then
pred om inantly white working-class neighborhood , H azelwood .
• There, they encountered racial hostility; bricks were thrown through a
wind ow at their new hom e.

4. Early L ife
• Wilson was the only black stud ent at C entral C atholic H igh School
in 1 959; threats and abuse d rove him away.
• H e d ropped out of Glad stone H igh School in the 1 0th grad e in
1 960 when a teacher accused him of plagiarizing a 20-page paper
on N apoleon.
• Wilson m ad e such extensive use of the C arnegie L ibrary to
ed ucate him self that they later award ed him a d egree (the only one
they ever award ed ).
• Wilson, who had learned to read at age four, began read ing black
writers there at age 1 2.
• Wilson knew that he wanted to be a writer, but this created tension
with his m other, who wanted him to becom e a lawyer.
• She forced him to leave the fam ily hom e and he enlisted in the
U nited States Arm y for a three-year stint in 1 962, but left after one
year and went back to working od d jobs such as a porter, short-
ord er cook, gard ener, and d ishwasher.

5. Ad ult L ife
• August K ittel changed his nam e to August Wilson to honor his
m other when his father d ied in 1 965.
• In 1 968, Wilson co-found ed the Black H orizon Theater in the
H ill D istrict of Pittsburgh along with fellow resid ent Rob
Penny, who went on to becom e associate professor of African
stud ies at the U niversity of Pittsburgh.
• Wilson served as a scriptwriter and d irector for the next ten
years; d esperate for space, they staged m any of their plays in
elem entary school aud itorium s and com m unity centers.

6. Death
• He died of liver cancer on
October 2, 2005.
• On October 16, 2005, only 14
days after Wilson's death, the
Virginia Theatre in New York's
Broadway theatre district was
renamed the A ugust Wilson
Theatre. This is the first
Broadway theatre to bear the
name of an A frican-A merican.

7. F ences
• F ences was published in 1985.
• The play, set in the 1950's, is
the sixth in Wilson's ten-part
Pittsburgh C ycle.
• The play won a Pulitzer Prize
for drama and the Tony A ward
for Best Play in 1987.
• In 2010 – nominated for 10
more awards – won three -
Best Revival of a play, best
actor (Denzel Washington) and
best actress (Viola Davis).
• Fences

8. Troy Maxson
James Earl Jones
Denzel Washington

9. Focus
• Family relationships
– Father/son
– Husband/wife
• Generational conflicts
• Socio economic issues
• Racial issues

10. • Major symbol of the play & the title
– Think of all the purposes of a fence
– Why is the title plural?
• Baseball – how is it used and why
appropriate?