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August Wilson Biography (1945–2005) (455 hits)

August Wilson Biography (1945–2005)

African American playwright August Wilson won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for his play 'Fences' and earned a second Pulitzer Prize for 'The Piano Lesson.'

Who Was August Wilson?

Famed playwright August Wilson wrote his first play, Jitney, in 1979. Fences earned him a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award in 1987. Wilson won another Pulitzer Prize in 1990, for The Piano Lesson. In 1996, Seven Guitars premiered on the Broadway stage, followed by King Hedley II in 2001 and Gem of the Ocean in 2004. Wilson died on October 2, 2005, in Seattle, Washington.

Early Life and Education

Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 1945. His mother, Daisy Wilson, was of African American heritage. His father was a German immigrant named Frederick Kittel.

As a child, Kittel attended St. Richard's Parochial School. When his parents divorced, he, his mother and his siblings moved from the poor Bedford Avenue area of Pittsburgh to the mostly white neighborhood of Oakland. After facing the relentless bigotry of his classmates at Central Catholic High School, he transferred to Connelly Vocational High School, and later to Gladstone High School. When he was 15 years old, Wilson pursued an independent education at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, where he would earn his high school diploma.

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