9780063008618
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Black Boy Audiobook Summary

Richard Wright’s powerful and unforgettable memoir of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. At once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment, Black Boy is a poignant record of struggle and endurance–a seminal literary work that illuminates our own time.

When it exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, Black Boy was both praised and condemned. Orville Prescott of the New York Times wrote that “if enough such books are written, if enough millions of people read them maybe, someday, in the fullness of time, there will be a greater understanding and a more true democracy.” Yet from 1975 to 1978, Black Boy was banned in schools throughout the United States for “obscenity” and “instigating hatred between the races.”

The once controversial, now classic American autobiography measures the brutality and rawness of the Jim Crow South against the sheer desperate will it took to survive as a Black boy. Enduring poverty, hunger, fear, abuse, and hatred while growing up in the woods of Mississippi, Wright lied, stole, and raged at those around him–whites indifferent, pitying, or cruel, and Blacks resentful of anyone trying to rise above their circumstances. Desperate for a different way of life, he made his way north, eventually arriving in Chicago, where he forged a new path and began his career as a writer. At the end of Black Boy, Wright sits poised with pencil in hand, determined to “hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo.” Seventy-five years later, his words continue to reverberate.

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Black Boy Audiobook Narrator

Peter Francis James is the narrator of Black Boy audiobook that was written by Richard Wright

Peter Francis James has starred in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions, as well as on such television programs as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, New York Undercover and State of Affairs.

About the Author(s) of Black Boy

Richard Wright is the author of Black Boy

Black Boy Full Details

Narrator Peter Francis James
Length 15 hours 28 minutes
Author Richard Wright
Category
Publisher Caedmon
Release date February 18, 2020
ISBN 9780063008618

Subjects

The publisher of the Black Boy is Caedmon. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Discrimination & Race Relations, Social Science

Additional info

The publisher of the Black Boy is Caedmon. The imprint is Caedmon. It is supplied by Caedmon. The ISBN-13 is 9780063008618.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Emily

January 27, 2008

Black Boy is the book that made me fall in love with reading. I was in Italy with my family on spring break and I was required to read Black Boy for my english class. This book pulled me in. I remember walking around Italy with my nose in the book, barely looking up. I made my step-dad stop in a bookstore so I could buy more books by Richard Wright. I read Native Son next. As Black Boy is Wright's autobiography, I was enthralled with Richard Wright's life and how he was able to escape the hardships and pains of his life by reading and getting absorbed into the story of someone else's life. I needed that escape at that point in my life and Wright taught me that when life is hard and you don't want to think about your reality anymore, you can always pick up a good book.

brian

May 04, 2016

i’m in the minority (minority. heh heh.) in finding this book superior to ellison’s invisible man. it might not be as daring, might lack the touch of modernist irony, but sometimes ya gotta shove all that aside and recognize a great book for just being a great book. something ellison’s book just ain't.

Alex

November 11, 2015

Here's Richard Wright going door to door in the 1920s Jim Crow South trying to sell his dog for a dollar because he's starving. A white lady offers him 97 cents and, feeling some distant surge of fury inside, he turns her down, goes home with his dog and his hunger. A few days later (view spoiler)[the dog gets run over by a coal truck, (hide spoiler)] and this book is a bummer. This is not quite 100 years ago, this hellish world he's trying to claw out of. The degradation required of black people in order to survive is a nightmare.So this skinny kid teaches himself to read, borrows a lone sympathetic white guy's library card, forges a note from him. He makes sure the note includes a racial slur, to make it more believable; it's crucial that the librarian not guess the books are for himself. He dives into Dostoevsky, Dreiser, Gertrude Stein.The plots and stories in the novels did not interest me so much as the point of view revealed. I gave myself over to each novel without reserve, without trying to criticize it; it was enough for me to see and feel something different. And for me, everything was something different...In buoying me up, reading also cast me down, made me see what was possible, what I had missed. My tension returned, new, terrible, bitter, surging, almost too great to be contained. I no longer felt that the world around me was hostile, killing; I knew it.If you've ever wondered how reading can be an act of revolution, this book will lay it all out for you. Jim Crow depended on the ignorance of black people. As Wright started to see other perspectives, he understood how the system oppressed him and he started to see that things could be different. Reading was war for him. He tried to hide what was happening behind the shuck and jive, but it was impossible; white people could sense that he had become dangerous."Why don't you laugh and talk like the other niggers?" [his boss] asked."Well, sir, there's nothing much to say or smile about," I said, smiling.His face was hard, baffled; I knew that I had not convinced him..."I don't like your looks, nigger. Now, get!" he snapped.And he does; (view spoiler)[he gets to Chicago, where he joins up with the Communist party only to find that while their ideals are noble, the reality is just more fitting in. (hide spoiler)] Here, as in Native Son, Wright slows down quite a bit; the back third of each book gets extremely talky. He sucks you in and then he's like "Now that I've got you, let's talk about Communism." But even with the - let's face it - boring stuff, this is still the best description of life under Jim Crow I've ever read. Wright is not just a self-made man but a man who has made himself in the face of an entire system dedicated to keeping him unmade; it's pretty inspiring stuff. And he's succeeded in turning himself into one of the great writers of the century.Perhaps, I thought, out of my tortured feelings I could fling a spark into this darkness...I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of the hunger for life that gnaws in us all, to keep alive in our hearts a sense of the inexpressibly human.Mission accomplished, Wright. Sorry about your dog.

Dagio_maya

November 27, 2020

L'autobiografia “Black boy” (1945) non brilla per originalità di scrittura, stile e/o contenuto.Il valore reale dell’opera di R.W. è quello di poter essere considerato un documento di storia sociale. Raccontandoci la sua vita (dall’infanzia ai vent’anni circa), di fatti, Wright, dà modo al lettore non solo di calarsi nelle atmosfere di un’epoca ma anche di entrare nel pensiero di un giovane nero e della sua comunità.Le pagine più interessanti sono proprio quelle che ci delineano l’incontro/scontro del giovane afroamericano con la società bianca. Un mondo che non si limita a disprezzare ma si assume il preciso carico di limitare ogni possibilità di crescita del popolo nero:” Ma io, che non rubavo nulla, che volevo guardarli bene in faccia, che volevo parlare ed agire da uomo, ispiravo loro paura. I bianchi del Sud preferivano impiegare negri che rubavano piuttosto che negri che conoscessero, sia pure vagamente, il valore della propria umanità. Per conseguenza i bianchi ponevano un aggio sulla fraudolenza negra; incoraggiavano l'irresponsabilità, ed il loro compenso era rappresentato dal rafforzamento che ne risultava alla loro posizione di sicurezza e di superiorità.” In un percorso che va dal 1914 al 1927, Wright racconta di una vita familiare instabile e una formazione scolastica che procede ad intermittenza.Il piccolo Richard passa l’infanzia senza avere contatti diretti con i bianchi e quando, per necessità, si troverà a che fare con loro sarà un’esperienza fulminante che richiede una nuova e specifica “educazione”:” Avevo cominciato troppo tardi ad aver a che fare con i bianchi. Non potevo far sì che la sottomissione divenisse un fatto automatico nel mio comportamento. Dovevo sentire e meditare ogni minima particella della mia esperienza razziale alla luce dell'intero problema della razza, e ad ogni particella io portavo l'intera mia vita. Quando mi trovavo dinanzi ad un bianco dovevo immaginare il modo di compiere ciascun gesto e di dire ciascuna parola. Non potevo farne a meno. Non potevo infischiarmene. In passato avevo sempre detto troppo, ed ora trovavo difficoltà addirittura a dire qualche cosa. Non potevo reagire nel modo in cui il mondo che mi circondava si aspettava da me; era un mondo troppo sconcertante, troppo insicuro.” Pensare prima di agire è “semplicemente” una questione di vita o di morte. Ecco dunque che relazionarsi con i bianchi diventa un’assurda e grottesca recita…Wright rappresenta una generazione che ha sentito l’eco delle catene (nipote di un ex- schiavo, lui stesso, anche se nominalmente libero, era nato in una piantagione) ed escogita delle rappresentazioni del sé che gli permettano di restare a galla. La sua fortuna fu quella di trovarsi tra le mani un’arma: la scrittura.E’ l’incredulità quella che domina il pensiero di Wright di fronte ai continui atti di ostilità che vogliono mettere in dubbio la propria appartenenza al genere umano” il problema di vivere come negro era arduo e difficile. Che cos'era che rendeva l'odio dei bianchi verso i negri così inflessibile, apparentemente insito nel tessuto stesso delle cose? Qual vita sarebbe stata possibile sotto la pressione di quest'odio? Come aveva potuto nascere quest'odio?”

Roy

August 31, 2021

Reading this soon after Ellison’s Invisible Man, one is struck by the similarities of their content: an intelligent black man, raised in the south, comes north to seek a better life, only to be rejected by the Communist Party. But the differences in style are also striking: where Ellison is subtle, literary, experimental, Wright is direct, simple, and straightforward. However, the books do share one stylistic commonality: fast pacing. In both, the protagonist jumps from one crisis to another, in a relentless stream of events that push the action forward at breakneck speed. The fast pacing creates an almost comical affect in Wright’s book, as it gives the impression that the protagonist (himself) never had a quiet moment in his life. While highly entertaining—open virtually any page and you will soon be entangled in a good yarn—the final effect is less than the sum of its parts, since the story is both disjointed and difficult to believe. The rhythm of the book is so unlike the rhythm of everyday life, with its long stretches of uneventful boredom, that it reads more like a novel than a factual biography. If it is a novel it is, thankfully, a good one, whose many anecdotes provide a compelling portrait of a certain time and place in American history. With its constant themes of misunderstanding, being misunderstood, and not fitting in, Black Boy reminded me very strongly of Rousseau’s Confessions—though Wright is not as self-centered or as self-pitying as his Swiss predecessor. Nevertheless, despite the deep sympathy one cannot help feeling for him, Wright does not exactly come across as likable. If he was largely friendless during his life, one cannot help suspecting that his standoffish and cold personality contributed as much as his environment. Part II is substantially different in tone and content from the first one, about Wright’s childhood. Here we learn of his unsuccessful attempts to find a home in the Communist Party after his move to the South Side of Chicago. In this part, the rhythm is not so herky-jerky, but tells a sustained story of his political education and disillusionment. Wright’s characterization of the communists—as paranoid, obsessed with loyalty, and frightened by intellectual independence—matches that by Ellison, and is certainly not flattering. While his account is convincing, one also suspects that Wright is indulging in a bit of literary vengeance here. With all its flaws, and its (possible?) distortions of fact, I think Black Boy must be counted among the great American autobiographies, alongside Frederick Douglass’s and (lord help us) Henry Adams’s. And since it is more readable than most novels, there is no excuse to avoid it.

Michelle

December 30, 2019

The first part of this book, Southern Night, is absolutely incredible: I was riveted by Wright's profoundly emotional and psychological self-portrait of growing up in the segregated South, made real in visceral, searing prose. At one point, Wright borrows a white co-worker's library card and is thereby able to borrow a book by H. L. Mencken, of which he writes: "Yes, this man was fighting, fighting with words. He was using words as a weapon, using them as one would use a club. Could words be weapons? Well, yes, for here they were. Then, maybe, perhaps, I could use them as a weapon? No. It frightened me. I read on and what amazed me was not what he said, but how on earth anybody had the courage to say it."Wright may have been frightened by Mencken's use of words "as weapons" at that time, but years later, those same words could be used to describe Black Boy—I was in awe of Wright's courage in writing this book.While reading Black Boy, I was haunted by a persistent question: "How many others lived and died like this?" On one hand, the protagonist of Black Boy, who was based on Wright's own life story, is an Everyman: the description of his childhood could have been that of countless black boys growing up in the segregated South in the early twentieth century. On the other hand, he is unique because we know that he eventually becomes a celebrated author. He doesn't simply describe the poverty, hunger, misery, and pain that he endured; he enables the reader to climb inside his body and mind and experience it with him. At times, I had to remind myself that these were just words, that somehow Wright was able to conjure these visceral experiences out of WORDS. Once in a while, very rarely really, a truly gifted writer is able to perform this kind of magic: making you see the world through their eyes, making you feel what they felt in your very bones.The second part of the book, The Horror and The Glory was less interesting to me; most of it deals with Wright's problems and later disillusionment with various communist organizations.

Maureen

March 26, 2009

Every so often I will personally discover a story (not just "know" about it), written before my time, that opens up a world of enlightenment and gives answers to questions I didn't realize I had. Black Boy, the autobiographical memoir of author Richard Wright, is one of those novels. Originally, Black Boy was published as two separate novels (Black Boy and American Hunger). The first dealing with his childhood through late adolescents in the south. The second begins with Wright realizing his dream of moving north and his experiences in Chicago right before and during the Great Depression era rise of Communism. Black Boy is one of those "quotable" books, where almost every chapter contains words and phrases that touch your heart and mind. Wright shares experiences and insights that are so brutally and shamelessly honest, they delve into the most sacred and sensitive places of the human experience, and almost any reader can identify with timelessness of his intense struggles and small, infrequent joys.While reading/listening to Wright's memories, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the horror of the early 20th century south. During this time all Southern blacks lived in fear of the "White Terror." While reading this memoir I realized that to fully understand modern social policies and the impact and meaning these policies have on the African American community, it is necessary to look closely and far into the past of our racist history, prior to the familiar events of the Civil Rights Movement. By holding nothing back, by being open despite the pain and suffering he endured, Wright helps us to understand the true criminality of the Jim Crow laws of the early 1900's. It wasn't just about having to sit in the back of the bus. It was about being treated less than human on a daily basis. It was about being born into a profound hopelessness that could not be fought. It was about a people who were denied the experiences and education necessary to even be able to articulate this hopelessness. Where oppression was accepted as a fact of life.Before I read Black Boy, I had never considered the lure of Communism to the African American citizens in cities during the Great Depression. The Communist Party's doctrine of equal rights, regardless of age, race, or gender must have been an irresistible hope to the Blacks who lived in such a dehumanizing time. Wright tells us through his writing how economically poor Blacks and Whites alike where first seduced, then disillusioned, by the Red movement in the North. While the social doctrine was more humane, the economic and political policies, often enforced through fear and alienation, had meant that individuals were expected trade their personal identities, dreams, and aspirations, for the hope of more safe and "equal" community. Wright realized through his experiences in the "Party" that he was trading one form of bondage was for another.The beauty of Black Boy, is that Wright, a long deceased southern black man, who was the grandson of slaves, can artfully narrate his coming of age discoveries, raw emotions, and questioning spirit in a way that can connect with the experiences and thoughts of a 21st century, white, thirty-something woman.

Kris

December 19, 2007

During some sort of standardized test in high school one of our reading comprehension sections included a section of this book. It was the section where young Richard Wright (living in Alabama?) wanted to read libraby books, but couldn't check books out of the library because he was black. Wright went to the one person in the office where he worked as a janitor who might be sympathetic--because the man was Catholic and also suffered from slights from the other white Southerners. Wright had to ask this man to check out books from the library for him. It was the only way he could use the library. Being an inveterte bookworm myself, I was horrified at the idea of not being able to check books out of the library. (Okay, so I was sheltered, but consider that when my parents wanted to punish me for doing something awful, rather than ground me they would take away my books.) I knew I had to read the biography of a man who would risk so much to read books.

Cherisa

November 08, 2021

The bildungsroman of a poor black boy in the Jim Crow south to internationally renowned writer on the black experience and humanity of society’s disadvantaged. An incredible story with unexpected insights into the intolerance of religious fundamentalism, communism in America, and the systemic racism in education, economics, and even jobs programs of the New Deal.

KOMET

September 26, 2018

TODAY I finished re-reading "BLACK BOY." I first read it when I was in high school many, many years ago. At the time I read it, the book left a big impression on me. Yet, as time went on, I gave Richard Wright's autobiography little more than a second thought. So, when one of the Goodreads clubs to which I belonged chose "BLACK BOY" as the Book of the Month, I was eager to see what I might find or discover from re-reading it. From the moment I plunged into the first paragraph, I felt like I was reading it for the first time, with fresh eyes.Wright brought to me, as a reader, his fears, hopes, and dreams that he had while growing up in the South - be it in Mississippi (where he was born), Arkansas, and Tennessee. He lived with hunger, fears of running afoul of white Southerners (which required that he'd learn fast how to act, think, and be among them -- otherwise, he could end up dead, as had happened with one of his uncles who had a thriving business that whites resented him for having), and his own desire to lead a freer, independent existence within the larger society. That is, the U.S. as he knew it to be during the 1910s and 1920s.After some effort and a lot of determination, Wright eventually was able to save enough money to go live in the North, where one of his aunts lived. Upon arriving there, in his own words: "Chicago seemed an unreal city whose mythical houses were built of slabs of black coal wreathed in palls of gray smoke, houses whose foundations were sinking slowly into the dank prairie. Flashes of steam showed intermittently on the wide horizon, ... The din of the city entered my consciousness, entered to remain for years to come. The year was 1927." Wright would go on to work a variety of odd jobs (including work with the post office) and join the Communist Party in the early 1930s, which gave him invaluable lessons in human psychology that he would later carry over into his writing. This is a book that I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone seeking to understand the effects of man's inhumanity to man, as well as the redemptive power of the spirit that refuses to submit to degradation and oppression imposed upon it, seeking a newer world and better life.

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