August Wilson 1945-2005

1. August Wilson1945-2005 "I once wrote a short story called 'The Best Blues Singer in the World' and it went like this: 'The streets that Balboa walked were his own private ocean, and Balboa was drowning.' End of story. That says it all. Nothing else to say. I've been rewriting that same story over and over again. All my plays are rewriting that same story. I'm not sure what it means, other than life is hard." –August Wilson

2. Wilson’s New York Times Obituary: “In dialogue that married the complexity of jazz to the emotional power of the blues, he also argued eloquently for the importance of black Americans' honoring the pain and passion in their history, not burying it to smooth the road to assimilation. For Mr. Wilson, it was imperative for black Americans to draw upon the moral and spiritual nobility of their ancestors' struggles to inspire their own ongoing fight against the legacies of white racism.”

3. August Wilson was an award winning playwright (Pulitzer, New York Drama Circle, Tony) • Sought to capture the African American experience in 20th Century • Wrote a cycle of 10 plays, one per decade of the 20th century • All but Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom were set in the Hill district of Pittsburg • Fences takes place in the 1950s (1957)

4. The Pittsburg Cycle • 1900s - Gem of the Ocean (2003) • 1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1984) • 1920s - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1982) - set in Chicago • 1930s - The Piano Lesson (1986) - Pulitzer Prize • 1940s - Seven Guitars (1995) • 1950s - Fences (1983) - Pulitzer Prize • 1960s - Two Trains Running (1990) • 1970s - Jitney (1979) • 1980s - King Hedley II (2001) • 1990s - Radio Golf (2005)

5. Biography: Early Life • born Frederick August Kittel (April 27, 1945) in Pittsburgh, PA • father: Frederick August Kittel , Sr.: white German immigrant (baker). Drank too much and had fiery temperament. Absent during Wilson’s upbringing • mother: Daisy Wilson: African American—instilled in her six children a strong sense of pride and little tolerance for injustice. -Daisy divorced Kittel and remarriedfamily moved to largely white suburb. • Wilson was only black student in his class at a Roman Catholic high school. Victim of racism (“There was a note on my desk every single day…It said, ‘Go home, nigger.’”) • Wilson attended 2 more schools but gave up on formal education when teacher accused him of plagiarizing a paper on Napoleon • At age 15, he started his own education by spending time at public library.

6. Daddy Issues • Wilson was often at odds with his step father (David Bedford) • Many say David Bedford was a model for Troy Maxson • 1965 – August Kittel changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother after his father's death. • Struggled with the fact that he had a white father

7. Biography: Becoming a Writer • Hill District: area of Pittsburgh that Wilson had lived in during his early years. He spent time hanging out there and listening to the people and stories around him in his 20s. These characters and stories would become part of his plays later. • Knew he wanted to be a writer but spent 3 years stint in army (1962) to please mom. • First started off as a poet—always dressed well and known for trademark porter’s cap. • Early influences: the blues (Bessie Smith), Malcolm X, Black Power Movement (self-sufficiency, self-defense, self-determination).

8. Black Arts Movement and Black Theater • Founded (with fellow poets) a theater workshop and art gallery. • 1968: founded Black Horizons on the Hill Theater. Wilson was director and sometimes actor. No performance space so they used local elementary schools. • 1978: Set aside playwriting and moved to St. Paul, MN. Worked at Science Museum of Minnesota adapting Native American folk tales into children’s plays. • Grew homesick for Hill District and grew more comfortable with playwriting—started channeling Hill voices/stories from his earlier years. • Influences: the “four B’s”: the blues, Jorge Luis Borges (Argentine writer), Amiri Baraka (black playwright/poet), and Romare Bearden (black artist).

9. Debate with Robert Brustein • Brustein was a drama critic & artistic director at American Rep Theater in Cambridge, MA • Wilson and Brustein argued about the concept of color blind casting • Casting an actor without considering racial or ethnic make up of the character • Brustein was in favor, Wilson against it • Wilson believed in having theaters for black playwrights, directors, actors, and audiences • Sought to address the realities that theater is aimed at a white audience

10. The Debate (continued) • Wilson: "I am not carrying a banner for black directors. I think they should carry their own. I am not trying to get work for black directors. I am trying to get the film of my play made in the best possible way. I declined a white director not on the basis of race but on the basis of culture. White directors are not qualified for the job. The job requires someone who shares the specifics of the culture of black Americans." • Wilson lamented that among more than 60 members of the League of Regional Theaters, only one was dedicated to the work of African-Americans. The idea of casting all black actors in Death of a Salesman is ridiculous because the play “was conceived for white actors as an investigation of the specifics of white culture.” • Brusteincalled Wilson’s push for the black theater movement “self-segregation.” • Wilson: “Never is it suggested that playwrights like David Mamet or Terrence McNally are limiting themselves to whiteness…The idea that we are trying to escape from the ghetto of black culture is insulting."

11. The White Audience • Wilson: "I think my plays offer (white Americans) a different way to look at black Americans…For instance, in 'Fences' they see a garbageman, a person they don't really look at, although they see a garbageman every day. By looking at Troy's life, white people find out that the content of this black garbageman's life is affected by the same things - love, honor, beauty, betrayal, duty. Recognizing that these things are as much part of his life as theirs can affect how they think about and deal with black people in their lives."

12. Topics related to Fences

13. The Negro Leagues • Negro Leagues formed around 1885 • Heyday of the Negro Leagues: 1930s-early 1940s. • White and black teams played each other in exhibition games, and black teams won almost ¾ of the games. • Very few official records/scores kept from the Negro Leagues. • 1947 – Jackie Robinson signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers (integration of MLB). • By the late 40’s/early 50’s the Negro Leagues had declined

14. Josh Gibson (catcher/HR hitter) • Black baseball’s greatest HR hitter • 1931: more than 70 homeruns (some more than 575 feet) • Lifetime HRs may have been 950 • “I don’t break bats. I wear them out.” (Josh Gibson) • died in 1947 • Said to rival or beat Babe Ruth (more HRs)

15. Satchel Paige (pitcher) • Most well-known pitcher in the Negro Leagues • Drew large crowds: great performer/self promoter • Paige estimated he pitched in 2005 games and won 2000 of them. • July ‘48 – signed with Cleveland Indians at age 42

16. Seasons in the Negro Leagues • Players were always on road • The brand of baseball faster and more daring, and just as competitive. • Not as much rest or sympathy for injuries • Negro league batters learned how to hit everything—pitchers would scuff up balls with bottle cap to throw pitches that broke more. • Bunt became an art form—not used as much in major leagues • Segregation: roadside restaurants wouldn’t allow blacks in—gas stations closed bathrooms • Had to sleep on floors in railroad station a lot of times

17. “The lie of baseball is that it’s a level playing field, that there’s equality, that all of the inequalities in American life check their hat at the door, that they don’t go into the stadium, that once you’re there, there’s a sort of bleacher democracy. That the banker can sit in the bleachers and converse with the working man next to him. This is a falsehood. You have class and race issues that mirror the struggle of American life playing themselves out on the ball fields. We like to think that baseball exists under a kind of bell jar, that it’s impervious to change, and it’s not so.” –John Thorn (historian)

18. Breaking the Color Line: Jackie Robinson • First African American to “break the color line” in baseball playing in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers – 1947 • Specifically chosen • Unquestionable character and talent (but not most talented) • Faced discrimination & harassment

19. Hank Aaron • ‘54 – Hank Aaron starts with Milwaukie Braves • ‘57 – wins MVP Award • Sept 23, 1957 – hits a 2 run walk-off, winning his team the pennant • Braves went on to win the World Series against the Yankees that season • 1974 – breaks Babe Ruth’s HR record

20. Uncle Remus • Joel Chandler Harris • Wrote the Uncle Remus stories (1881) • Stories collected from hearing slaves tell tales • Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox • Trickster figure • Song of the South • Seen as re-appropriating a culture’s stories • Slave entertaining a master’s son, white boy • Connected to the minstrel stereotype

21. Labor Unions • At first resisted admitting African Americans • Were afraid African Americans would be used to break strikes • Later embraced black membership, but couldn’t always be trusted • Some union leaders were corrupt • It’s a big deal that Troy breaks the “color line” (as Jackie Robinson does)

22. Archangel Gabriel • In the Bible, he foretells the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus • He tells Mary she is carrying the son of God • By common belief, he will signal the end of time, signaling the Last Judgment • Look for this in the play

23. 1957: • Amajor year that presaged the coming civil rights era. • May 17: MLK’s “Give us the Ballot” speech at the Lincoln Memorial To fellow activists: “I realize that it will cause restless nights sometime. It might cause losing a job; it will cause suffering and sacrifice. It might even cause physical death for some. But if physical death is the price that some must pay to free their children from a permanent life of psychological death, then nothing can be more Christian.” -MLK • September: • September 9: Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Act was limited but set off a wave of stronger legislation in the sessions to follow • Little Rock 9:Nine black students de-segregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas (an act ordered 3 years earlier with Brown v. Board of Education). Riots broke out in the weeks that followed. • Hank Aaron hit homerun to clinch the Milwaukee Braves their first pennant title ever (September 23).

24. 1957 • “Mikwaukee’s dusty Hank Aaron blasted the Braves into the World Series only a few hours after an insane mob of white supremacists took the Stars and Stripes in Little Rock and trampled it to the ground in front of Central High School…The cheers that are lifted to Negro ballplayers only dramatize the stupidity of the jeers that are directed at those few Negro kids trying to get a good education for themselves in Little Rock.” –Wisconsin CIO News