Richard Wright

Two differing explorations of post-WWII culture, politics, and ideals.

Two recent books examine the idea of the Midwest as a haven for white supremacy and patriarchy.

How Ralph Ellison got Invisible Man into the canon.

Pauline Hopkins, Booker T. Washington, and the Fight for The Colored American Magazine.

In the new nonfiction collection “You Don’t Know Us Negroes,” what emerges is a writer who mastered a Black idiom but seldom championed race pride.

In Life of a Klansman, Edward Ball’s white supremacist great-great-grandfather becomes a case study in the enduring legacy of slavery.

Government support created jobs, built trust, and invigorated American literature. We should try it again.

The New Yorker critic's new book is a sequel of sorts to "The Metaphysical Club."

The case for a Federal Writers' Project 2.0.

How the preeminent photographic record of the period excluded people of color from the nation’s self-image.

Mabel Wilson discusses the history of racial violence and the continued vandalism and destruction of Black historical memorials in the Deep South.

Cartoons have often been considered exempt from the country’s prejudices. In fact, they form a genre built on the marble and mud of racial signification.

What is the role of artists in a crisis?

A new book considers the mid-century authors who were – and weren't – willing to have their work deployed in the service of the Cold War.

The rise and fall of Perry Miller.

James Campbell opens the FBI file on James Baldwin.

Author Jesmyn Ward on the racism “built into the bones” of the state where she grew up and is choosing to raise her children.

Mississippi’s outdated textbooks teach an abbreviated version of civil rights, undermining the state’s new ‘innovative’ standards.

The 1927 disaster exposed a country divided by stereotypes, united by modernity.

The Popular Front and American culture.