Born into a poor family in Natchez, Mississippi,
Wright moved to Chicago in 1927, aspiring to become
a writer. Working in a number of menial jobs, he pursued his writing and was eventually hired in 1935 by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration. Wright lived at several South Side locations; his last residence in Chicago was the “La Veta” apartment building, 3743 South Indiana Avenue.

Although Wright lived in Chicago for only a decade, his most compelling writing drew heavily on his Chicago experience. Native Son (1940) shocked readers with its violent realism, describing the emotional forces that drive a young man to commit murder.

Wright’s Southern memories were the basis for another critically acclaimed novel, Black Boy (1945), a gripping account of his childhood and adolescence.

Wright moved to New York City in 1937 and to Paris in 1947. His intellectual and literary interests expanded over the years, but at the core was a deep concern for humanity and the nature of prejudice.