Richard Wright Cultural Medallion Unveiling
175 Carlton Avenue - 11AM
In the early part of this year the FGA launched a campaign to properly honor one of our former residents, Richard Wright. Today, the grassroots efforts of the FGA bear fruit as we mark this moment in our shared local history
The Historic Landmarks Preservation Center [HLPC] in conjunction with the FGA will unveil a Cultural Medallion honoring Richard Wright, author of the pivotal novel, Native Son, on Tuesday, July 17. 2012 at 11:00AM. The ceremony will be opened by Mrs. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, director of the HLPC, and will take place at 175 Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene. This was where Richard Wright was living in 1938, with his friends Herbert and Jane Newton, while drafting his breakout novel. Most often he would jot his notes after walking a short distance to sit on a bench opposite the Martyrs Monument in historic Fort Greene Park.
Native Son was the very first work ever by an African American writer to become a Book of the Month Club selection, and was later adapted into a successful Broadway play directed by Orson Welles. The work was a kingpin in the launch of the American Civil Rights movement in that it amply revealed the disenfranchisement of a young black boy, Bigger Thomas, in a white American society. As Wright observed in his novel, “Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.” Among Wright’s other works were an autobiographical narrative, Uncle Tom’s Children as well as Black Boy, many non-fiction articles for the Daily Worker and other publications, and even haikus.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Lynn Nottage, celebrated playwright of Intimate Apparel and Ruined, will be speakers at the July 17th unveiling, in addition to Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Palazzo and noted author, musician and Fort Greene resident Carl Hancock Rux. A personal message from the daughter of Richard Wright, Ms. Julia Wright of Paris, will also be read at the ceremony.
