August Wilson & Fences
Dr. Moschetta
English 12 Advanced
Life & Background
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Born in Pittsburgh to a white father
(Frederick August Kittle) who never lived with
his family and a black mother (Daisy Wilson)
from North Carolina. He shared life with his
mother and five siblings.
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1960s - Flunked out of 9th grade and at
worked menial jobs beginning at age 16. He
received his education in libraries and in
town hubs.
Life & Background
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1960s - 1970s - Became involved in the civil
rights movement and began to describe
himself as black nationalist.
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Moved to Minneapolis and began to write,
clearly using speech patterns and rhythms
that were familiar to him from black
neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. his writing was
also strongly influenced by the blues.
Life & Background

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Began writing plays in Pittsburgh and
then took a job in St. Paul writing
dramatic skits for the Science Museum
of Minnesota.
1968 - Founded and directed the Black
Horizon Theatre Company in Pittsburgh
in a predominantly black neighborhood
referred to as the Hill.
Life & Background

In 1972 he began writing a play, Jitney,
about a Gypsy cab station, which was
produced in 1978 at Black Horizon and
in 1982 at the Eugene O'Neill Center's
National Playwright Conference. The
play was revived and presented at the
1997 National Black Theatre Festival in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The Pittsburgh Cycle
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A series of 10 of
Wilson’s plays, nine of
which are set in
Pittsburgh’s Hill District,
each set in a different
decade
All designed to represent
the African American
people’s existence in the
United states during the
20th century
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1900s – Gem of the Ocean
1910s – Joe Turner’s Come and
Gone
1920s – Ma Rainey’s Black
Bottom (set in Chicago)
1930s – The Piano Lesson
1940s – Seven Guitars
1950s – Fences
1960s – Two Trains Running
1970s – Jitney
1980s – King Hedley II
1990s – Radio Golf
Pulitzer Prize Winning Plays
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Fences
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Written in 1985
Pulitzer Prize in
1987

The Piano Lesson
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Written in 1989
Pulitzer Prize in
1990
August Wilson’s Death
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In August 2005, he was diagnosed with
liver cancer and given 3-5 months to live
He died on October 2, 2005 at Swedish
Medical Center in Seattle
Fences
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Fences presents a slice-of-life in a
black tenement in (Pittsburgh?) set in
the late 1950s through 1965.
The main character, Troy Maxson, is a
garbage collector who has taken great
pride in keeping his family together and
providing for them.
Fences
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Troy's rebellion and frustration set the tone
for the play as he struggles for fairness in a
society which seems to offer none. In his
struggle he builds fences between himself
and family.
Troy also wrestles with the idea of death and
claims that he sees death as nothing but a
fastball, something he can handle. The
baseball metaphor is used in relation to
death and throughout the play.
Arthur Miller and Death of a
Salesman
Arthur Miller
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One of the great playwrights of the 20th
century
Born in New York City in October 1915
Son of a women’s clothing manufacturer
who lost everything in the stock market
crash
Arthur Miller

Growing up in the poverty of the Great
Depression shaped Miller’s life and views
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Insecurity of modern existence
After high school, he worked in a
warehouse to earn enough money to attend
the University of Michigan
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Started writing plays at UM
Miller’s Writing
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First success = Focus, 1945, a novel about
anti-Semitism
All My Sons was the first play that
established him as a playwright
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About a manufacturer of faulty war materials
Death of a Salesman (1949) secured
Miller’s reputation as one of the country’s
foremost playwrights
Death of a Salesman
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Mixes social realism (common theme of
Miller’s work) with a more experimental
structure
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Leaps in time and place as Willy Loman
(protagonist) drifts into memories of his sons
as teenagers
Willy Loman is an American archetype
Victim of his own delusions of grandeur
 Obsession with success that haunts his failure
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Death of a Salesman
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Won a Tony award
Won a Pulitzer Prize
Play has been frequently revived in film,
television, and stage productions
The Crucible
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Followed Death of a Salesman
Tale of the Salem Witch Trials
Obvious analogies to the McCarthy anticommunist hearings of Miller’s time
1956 – Miller found himself part of the
hearings
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Called to testify before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee
McCarthy Hearings
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Miller refused to name people he allegedly
saw at a Communist writers meeting
Miller was convicted of contempt
Appealed the verdict and later won
Marriage & Personal Life
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Married Marilyn Monroe the same year he
won his appeal
They divorced in 1961 (same year she died,
same year as her last film)
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The Misfits (Miller wrote the screenplay)
After divorcing Monroe, Miller married
Ingeborg Morath
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Stayed married to her until she died in 2005
They had a son and a daughter together