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Chapter 13 - August Wilson Wrestles with the Black Middle Class

from Part II - Politics and Debates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2025

By
Lisa B. Thompson
Edited by
Khalid Y. Long  and
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Khalid Y. Long
Affiliation:
Howard University, Washington DC
Isaiah Matthew Wooden
Affiliation:
Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
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Summary

This chapter explores the complex representations of the Black middle class in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle, with particular attention given to Radio Golf. After providing contextual material on the Black middle class in culture and literature, it examines the importance of Harmond Wilks, the real estate developer and aspiring politician at the center of the play who eventually rejects conventional notions of Black aspiration and uplift for African values of community, family, and cultural origins. The chapter demonstrates how Wilks’s trajectory from being a son of privilege to becoming a community rebel highlights Wilson’s evolving views about the potential of the Black elite and the need for their participation to change the world for Black Americans.

Keywords

August WilsonAmerican Century CycleBlack Middle ClassRacial UpliftRadio Golf
Type
Chapter
Information
August Wilson in Context , pp. 161 - 173
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Further Reading

Bryer, Jackson R. and Hartig, Mary C., eds., Conversations with August Wilson (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2006).Google Scholar
Cose, Ellis, The Rage of a Privileged Class (New York: Harper Collins, 1993).Google Scholar
Gaines, Kevin K., Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the Twentieth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).Google Scholar
Lacy, Kayrn R., Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).Google Scholar
Landry, Bart, The New Black Middle Class (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987).Google Scholar
Pattillo-McCoy, Mary, Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril Among the Black Middle Class (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999).Google Scholar
Thompson, Lisa B., Beyond the Black Lady: Sexuality and the New African American Middle Class (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Tye, Larry, Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class (New York: Henry Holt, 2005).Google Scholar

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