BLACK BOY

At four years of age, Richard Wright set fire to his home in a moment of boredom; at five his father deserted the family; by six Richard was - temporarily - an alcoholic. Moved from home to home, from brick ten ement to orphanage, a grandmother in Jackson, an aunt in Arkansas he h ad had, by the age of twelve, only one year's formal education. It was in saloons, railroad yards and streets that he learned the facts abou t life under white subjection, about fear, hunger and hatred, while hi s mother's long illness taught him about suffering. The same alertness and independence that made him the 'bad boy' of his family and the vi ctim of endless beatings and remonstrance's, lost him numerous jobs. G radually he learned to play Jim Crow in order to survive in a world of white hostility, secretly satisfying his craving for books and knowle dge until the time came when he could follow his dream of justice and opportunity in the north.