Black Boy
(Richard Wright)

Chapter One

Richard is a rambunctious boy who has a knack for causing trouble to entertain himself. He accidentally sets the curtains on fire and, in turn, the entire house while his mother is caring for his grandmother who is ill. Richard hides under the porch and is dragged out by his father, Nathan, and beaten to the point of unconsciousness by his mother, Ella.

Nathan works nights and thus sleeps during the day, but is woken one day by the sound of a kitten that Richard and his brother have found. Nathan tells the boys to get rid of the kitten and to kill it if they have to, though he is being sarcastic. Richard, knowing his father was not serious, hangs the kitten, killing it. He knows that his father cannot tell him that he was not serious because it will give Richard reason to not listen to him anymore. Shortly after this incident Nathan packs up and leaves for another woman.

Ella has a stroke and cannot work, so Richard is forced to take care of the family, which is a lot of responsibility for him. Richard and his brother are constantly hungry and associate painful hunger with resentment of their father and those who can afford food. Richard becomes a fighter after Ella encourages him to beat others who try to rob him when he goes to the store for food. Richard teaches himself to read which opens many questions in his mind, especially questions about the difference between black and white people. Richard is baffled by the black people’s hatred of white people but slowly develops an understanding of the abuse they endure.

The family slips further into poverty and after sending her boys to an orphanage for a while, Ella decides to move the whole family to live with her sister, Maggie, in Arkansas. Ella makes Richard ask Nathan for money before they leave, which Nathan refuses, and Richard muses that this is the last time he had ever seen his father.

Chapter Two

When the family is on their way to Maggie’s home they stop in Jackson, Mississippi to visit with Richard’s grandmother for a bit. Richard’s grandmother is a highly religious woman who allows a young schoolteacher, also named Ella, to rent a room from her.

Richard is intrigued by Ella and the books she is always reading. She tells him about her books, and Richard’s grandmother is not happy about this because, as a strict religious woman, she believes that fiction is nothing but lies and sin, and strictly forbids any talk of it in her home. When Richard begins to get mouthy with his grandmother, she blames it on Ella and her books, causing Ella the schoolteacher to move out.

When they arrive at Aunt Maggie’s home, they discover that she and her husband, Hoskins, always have food though Richard, fearing that it will run out, hides food all over the house for himself. Hoskins is killed by a group of white men one evening and Ella, Maggie, and the boys head back to Granny’s home in Mississippi, fearing for their own lives. They only stay with Granny for a short time before they get sick of her religious preaching and move to Arkansas together. Richard still ponders the division of blacks and whites whenever he is confronted with a discriminatory situation.

The building the family is living in turns out to be a brothel of sorts, which interests confuses Richard. Maggie soon meets a man known as Professor Matthews, who is apparently on the run from the law, and he and Maggie soon move north. After Maggie leaves, the family is in a state of poverty once again, and Richard nearly sells his dog for one dollar to buy food, which his mother tells him, he should have done because the dog is soon hit by a car and killed and a dead dog is not worth anything. World War I soon comes to an end, sparking a lot of racial conflict in the south, and Richard hears many inspiring stories of black people fighting back against the whites who have done them wrong.

Chapter Three

Richard is becoming acutely racially proud at this point, along with his friends, though they do not necessarily understand their motives. They get in many fights to defend themselves and their cause, resulting in Richard getting stitches on one occasion though he vows to fight further if the need arises. Ella is extremely sick at this point and is forced to move herself and the boys to a cheaper apartment, which Richard must pay for by working odd jobs because Ella cannot work.

Richard becomes desperate and writes to his Granny for help, fearing what will happen to the family if help does not come. Once Granny arrives they write letters to the other family members asking for money, though Richard feels ashamed and does not want to take handouts from anyone, including the neighbors who try to give them food. Eventually money comes in from family members little by little.

The family moves back to Granny’s home in Mississippi, and other family members move in to help Granny care for the boys. It is decided that the boys will be separated and sent to live with different relatives as Granny cannot possibly care for them herself. Richard chooses to live with his uncle Clark, as it will keep him close to his mother, and his brother, Alan, goes to live with Maggie in Detroit. While living with Clark, Richard continues to get into fights and making his own weapons in case he may need to use them.

Richard begins to have terrible nightmares when he learns that the person who lived in his room before him died in his bed, and he throws fits until he is permitted to go back to Granny’s house. Richard cannot wait until he is old enough to be out on his own, knowing his mother will never be well again, as she has suffered yet another stroke. He associates his mother’s illness to the pain and suffering that life is undoubtedly about, as that is all he has known to this point.

Chapter Four

Back at Granny’s Richard begins starving again, as there is little to eat. He begins drinking large amounts of water to make his stomach feel full. Granny is teaming up with Aunt Addie, who is also highly religious, to attempt to save Richard’s soul. Richard attends the religious school where Addie teaches, and she proceeds to beat him twice in one day, once in front of his classmates, over an understanding.

Richard retaliates by pulling a knife on Addie, and so she backs down, but is still supported by the other adults. Richard muses that while he is interested in religion he cannot bring himself to believe in God, no matter how much Addie and Granny try to make him, with the help of the other boys in the neighborhood. One day at church Richard tells Granny that he would believe in God if he saw an angel and she mistakenly thinks he tells her that he saw an angel. She tells the entire congregation what he said, and he corrects her in front of everyone, infuriating and embarrassing her.

To calm Granny down Richard tells her he will pray every single day, though he cannot bring himself to do so. When he should be praying he instead writes a story. He reads the story to the girl next door who is baffled by the fact that Richard is writing something just for fun.

Chapter Five

Addie and Granny give up on trying to save Richard as they see it is a lost cause. Richard is permitted to return to public school, where again he gains acceptance of his peers by fighting. Richard wants to get a job so he will have money to hang out with his friends and buy snacks from the corner store, but he has a hard time finding a job that will give him Saturdays off, as Granny refuses to allow him to work Saturdays for religious reasons.

Richard, at the urging of his friend, gets a job selling newspapers, though his friend has never actually read the paper so he does not know what it is about. Shortly after he begins selling, Richard learns that the paper is filled with propaganda of the Ku Klux Klan, and he is mortified. Both Richard and his friend stop selling the paper and Richard, once again, is poor.

One day when Richard says something that Addie and Granny find offensive, Granny lunges as Richard and falls off the porch, injuring her back. Richard feels awful but does not say anything and Addie attacks him. Once again Richard pulls a knife on Addie so she stops, but vows that one day she will give him the beating he deserves, which causes Richard to sleep with a knife under his pillow for the next month.

Richard gets a job working for an insurance man and visits sharecroppers, seeing what true poverty looks like and no longer feeling so sorry for himself. When Richard’s Grandfather passes away, he is sent to tell his Uncle Tom, who is outraged by the casual way Richard delivers the news. Richard is not invited to the funeral. As Richard slowly separates himself from the family, he stands up to his Granny and tells her that he will work Saturdays whether she likes it or not because he is embarrassed at the state of the raggedy clothing he must wear. Ella is proud of Richard for standing up to her.

Chapter Six

Richard gets a job working for a white family, which pays poorly but includes food. Richard becomes resentful of the family and hates the job because they get decent food to eat and he gets the moldy leftovers. Richard decides to quit the job when the woman of the house asks him why he bothers to attend school and laughs at him when he tells her that he wants to be a writer.

Richard soon begins working for another white family, which he also despises because of the way the treat him as well as one another, but he keeps it because he can easily steal food from them and it arms him with stories of his white employers to share with his friends who also work for white families.

Ella begins to feel better and convinces Richard to attend Baptist church with her. Richard and some other wayward boys are pressured to be Baptized and agree to it, though they do not believe in God. They all agree afterward that they feel no different.

Granny invites Uncle Tom and his family to live with them in return for paying a small amount of rent to help them out financially. Uncle Tom and Richard have a misunderstanding one day and Uncle Tom attacks Richard, only to face the razor blades that Richard wields on him, causing him to back off.

Chapter Seven

When Richard is in his summer before eighth grade, he gets a job working for a bricklayer. The owner’s dog bites him and Richard is worried because he knows of other men who have fallen extremely ill after being bitten by that dog. The owner tells Richard not to worry because “a dog bite can not hurt a nigger.”

Richard does fall ill but recovers in a couple of days, to his relief. Richard continues going to school but is disappointed at the lack of real world knowledge he is learning, as he feels he has learned nothing to help him to further his life. He writes a short story that is published by a local paper that is for blacks only, and Richard’s classmates and family do not understand why he writes just for fun.

Granny and Addie, of course, believe that fiction is sinful and full of lies so they have no support for Richard’s desire to write, nor does Ella who believes that potential employers may believe Richard’s ambition causes him to have a weak mind, and thus they will not hire him. The only person who appears to be supportive of Richard’s writing is the editor of the paper. Richard, in retrospect, muses that had he known how difficult it would be to accomplish his dream of becoming a writer he probably would have given up long ago.

Chapter Eight

Richard gets a job working at a sawmill but soon quits when he sees that one of the men is missing fingers after getting them caught in one of the machines. Richard becomes increasingly wary of black and white relations when he learns that the brother of a classmate was killed by a group of white men when they thought he was consorting with a white prostitute.

Richard becomes desperate for independence more than ever when he learns that his Uncle Tom has forbidden his children to spend time with Richard, feeling he is a bad influence. When Alan comes to visit the family, he seems to side with the rest of the family in alienating Richard, much to his surprise and dismay.

When it comes time for Richard to graduate from school he is named Valedictorian of his class, though his principal wants him to give a prewritten speech, rather than one of his own so as not to offend any white people who will be in the audience. Richard’s family agrees this is a terrific idea, but when it comes time to give the speech Richard gives one of his own and, despite the fact that everyone is clapping and celebrating afterward, he flees the graduation, disgusted by the people and events that have surrounded him for seventeen years. Richard vows to become a productive member of society and start really living in the world from this point onward.

Chapter Nine

Richard begins to work at a clothing store but is disgusted by what he sees around him. His white bosses constantly humiliate the black customers when they cannot pay for their clothes or do not pay their credit on time. When Richard is making a delivery one day, his bike gets a flat and some white boys offer him a ride on the side of their car, though they quickly smash a bottle in his face when he neglects to refer to one of them as “sir.”

On another delivery, Richard finds himself in a white neighborhood at night and is harassed by the police who tell him that his employer should not send a black boy on errands in a white neighborhood at night, as it arises suspicions. Richard is eventually fired from this job because his employer knows that Richard does not approve of the way he runs things.

Richard’s friend Griggs tells Richard that he must learn to swallow his pride if he wants a job because many white folks have already heard he is a trouble maker and will not hire him. Griggs sets Richard up on a job working for a lens maker who is from the north. Unfortunately, Richard is constantly goaded by two white men who work in the shop and thus quits the job because he does not wish to be disrespected by two men who are obviously trying to drive him away.

Mr. Crane, the owner, feels sorry for Richard and does not want him to quit. He is happy that Richard is trying to move north where he will be treated more fairly and thus pays him quite a bit more than he earned for that week. Richard is confused and ashamed and leaves Mr. Crane feeling as though he is blind.

Chapter Ten

Richard gets frustrated with the slew of jobs he goes through, hating that he feels racism everywhere he goes. He eventually gets a job working at a hotel where he mops the floors with a few other black men.

The other men encourage Richard to steal things from the hotel, but he hesitates because he does not feel it is worth the risk involved. He does feel as though employers encourage the theft because they seem to prefer having a dishonest uneducated black man working for them than an honest and intelligent one. He decides that stealing is the only way he will make enough money to move himself north, so he succumbs to the pressure. He leaves the job at the hotel and begins working at a movie theater where he and his coworkers resell tickets to make money off of them, which proves to be quite lucrative. He continues his money-making by stealing a gun for a neighbor and selling it for some extra cash, eventually making enough to take himself to Memphis.

Richard is troubled by all of the stealing he has done and disgusting with himself. He promises to never steal again as it makes him feel petty.

Chapter Eleven

When Richard gets to Memphis he finds a room to rent from a kind woman named Mrs. Moss. Mrs. Moss has a daughter named Bess, and it becomes clear rather early on that Mrs. Moss would like Richard to marry Bess. Richard does not understand how someone can be trusting to the point that they would want to welcome a perfect stranger into their family, and he is a little disgusted by it, being accustomed to trusting no one for his entire life.

Also, Richard has no attraction to Bess as he finds her dim and dreary. Richard soon meets another black man while he is by the waterfront and the two men find some illegal alcohol in the weeds. They decide together that they should sell it and split the money. A white man comes along who wishes to buy the alcohol for five dollars but asks that Richard and the other man move it to his car for him.

Richard is wary but helps anyway, and, after the task is completed, the other man goes off to find change for the five dollars so they can split it, but he never returns. Richard realizes that the black man, and the white man were working together, and they used Richard to help them move the illegal alcohol. Richard is terribly disappointed in himself for not catching on before he agreed to the task.

Chapter Twelve

Richard begins working in another lens shop as a cleaner. He is intrigued by a black man who works the elevator named Shorty, because he allows himself to be kicked in exchange for quarters. Richard does not understand why Shorty allows himself to be mistreated in this way.

Richard is embarrassed when he is offered food by white folk who think he is starving because he is so thin and back at home Mrs. Moss and Bess realize that Richard has no intentions of marrying into their family. Some of Richard’s other coworkers, including his foreman Olin, team up with the white men who work at a rival lens shop to spark a fight between each shop’s black boy.

They tell Richard that the black boy at the other shop says he wants to kill him, and the other boy is told the same thing. Richard and the other boy meet one another and discover that they are being set up. Richard and Harrison, the other black boy, are offered five dollars by the white men if they will box one another.

Richard and Harrison agree to it, but decide amongst themselves to fake the fight, so they can get the money. When it comes time for them to fight, they realize that it is harder to fake a fight than they thought and end up actually boxing one another. The fight turns out to be pretty brutal as their frustrations come to a boil and they retaliate viciously.

Chapter Thirteen

One day while reading a newspaper Richard sees an editorial criticizing the white essayist H.L. Mencken. Richard is intrigued as to why a Southern black newspaper would attack a white man so viciously and thus becomes sort of obsessed with Mencken and vows to read his work.

As black people are not allowed to check books out of the library Richard, convinces his white coworker, an Irishman named Falk, to lend him his library card, which he does but heeds the warning for Richard to be careful. Richard forges a note from Falk insisting the library allow “the nigger boy” to pick up some books for him. The librarian seems suspicious for a moment, but she consents anyway.

Richard becomes an immediate fan of Mencken’s writing and his ability to be bold, assertive, and honest in everything he writes. Reading Mencken makes Richard want to write more than ever and finds himself in a bit of a dream-state at random times throughout the day.

Richard’s coworkers become suspicious of his behavior, so he tries to contain himself while at work. Ella and Alan move to Memphis to be near Richard and Alan soon finds a job. Together, the boys save money to move the entire family to Chicago, as Richard had been planning for some time.

Chapter Fourteen

After Ella and Alan move to Memphis, the entire family is soon joined by Maggie. Professor Matthews has abandoned Maggie, and she wishes to move to Chicago with the rest of the family. It is decided that Richard and Maggie will move to Chicago first, settle into jobs, and find a place for all of them to live with Alan and Ella following soon after.

Richard hesitates to tell his boss, or anyone else, that he will be moving north because the whites in the south do not like it when blacks move north; they take it personally, believing that blacks are not appreciative of the treatment they are receiving. Two days before he is to leave Richard tells his boss that he is moving, but he makes it seem like he does not want to leave, he is just leaving to be closer to his ailing mother.

The white men who work with Richard seem slightly resentful that he gets to move north, except for Falk who cannot express it openly, but is obviously extremely happy for Richard for accomplishing his goal of moving north. Shorty tells Richard that he is happy for him and wishes he could do the same, but knows that he is far too lazy to follow in Richard’s footsteps.

Chapter Fifteen

When Richard arrives in Chicago, he is immediately immersed in and impressed by the landscape, and the casual interactions he sees between black and white people. He and Maggie find a room in the building where his Aunt Cleo lives and he finds a job working at a deli. Because of the racist environment, Richard grew up in he often mistakes people’s impatience for racism and he gets offended and frustrated.

Richard is constantly in fear of upsetting a white person and begins to understand why black people surrender to white control. Richard wonders if he will ever be able to accomplish the goals he has set for himself, because he realizes the constant mental and emotional pain that black people live in, and fears he will not be able to break free.

Richard actually wants a job working for the post office because it pays well and the hours will allow him to write, though he fears he will lose his job at the deli for looking elsewhere for work and ends up quitting despite his boss’s insistence that they will not treat him the way southerners did. When Richard begins working as a dishwasher in a cafe he is bewildered by the casual way the black and white employees interact with one another and the fact that his boss treats him with respect and listens to what he has to say.

While working at the café Richard also takes on a part time job at the post office, but must pass a physical examination to get a full-time position. Richard is fifteen pounds too light to pass the exam, thus losing his job and vows to put on the extra weight before the next exam comes around. Richard spends the majority of his time with his family, who are all in Chicago at this point, and eats himself sick in an attempt to gain weight. He spends a lot of time reading, which continues to baffle his family.

Chapter Sixteen

Richard gains enough weight to pass the physical exam for the post office the next time it comes around, and he gets the job where he begins to make some friends with both black and white people. He joins up with a few different groups of intellectuals, all of whom he admires for their passion but not necessarily for their views, such as a black literary group and a group of Garvey supporters. When the stock market crashes Richard’s hours at the post office are markedly reduced until he loses his job altogether.

Ella gets sick again, and Alan falls ill again, putting a considerable amount of pressure on Richard to make money in a hard economic time. Desperate for a job, Richard works with an insurance company that makes money by exploiting black people, which he despises and feels terrible about. Richard learns that many of the other men in the company have sex with housewives, which Richard tries as well though he is quickly disgusted by the ignorance of the women he is meeting.

Richard becomes interested in Communism when he sees a group of Communists protesting in the street and giving speeches. He believes they have no idea why they believe in Communism and finds them weak and childish; though appreciate the passion involved in fighting for a cause. He believes that blacks in the north will never understand the real struggles of the class system in America, having never lived in areas of real prejudice as he has.

Richard loses his job and is forced to move his family to a cheaper place and accept government handouts for food, which takes a massive toll on his pride.

Chapter Seventeen

When Richard is waiting in line at the government relief station for food, he notices that the people who surround him are not pathetic individuals he should be ashamed to be associated with, but a community of people who are standing together in hard times. He immediately begins to feel as though he belongs to the group, rather than being an outsider and wonders what a group like that can accomplish in terms of social change. He realizes that the reason whites have so much control is because once black people are challenged they back down. He believes that if black people would stand up and fight for their rights then there would be a lot less distance between the equality of the races.

Richard gets a job working at a research facility and becomes seriously interested in the research being conducted though the white doctors will not answer any of his questions as he is just a part of the cleaning crew. Richard has no respect for the other black men who work with him due to their obvious ignorance and inactive state in the world. The research facility performs experiments on dogs, sedating them and cutting their vocal chords so they cannot whine.

Richard sees these dogs as silent sufferers, just like much of the black community. One day two of the men Richard works with get into a fight and knock over the dog cages, causing quite the mess. When they are cleaning up, they can not remember which dog goes into which cage, and Richard panics, realizing that they may have done irreversible damage to some beneficial medical research.

Chapter Eighteen

Richard gets into some political discussions with some friends from the post office and realizes that many of them are into Communism. He attends a John Reed meeting with them and realizes that he not only approves of the message of global unity they are promoting, but he is intoxicated by it. The white people at the meeting accept him, which he is taken aback by, and give him literature to read. He supports their idea of bringing together the masses that have been oppressed and decides he would like to join up with them and write for them, though he did not fully agree with their stance before.

Ella is horrified by the Communist paper that Richard reads and writes for, and Richard realizes that they do not speak in language that is attractive to mass amounts of people. He mentions this at a meeting, though not everyone is receptive, and decides that he will spend him time trying to educate the masses on the benefits of Communism. Richard becomes a full-fledged member of the John Reed club and feels genuinely accepted by all of them, even the white members. Eventually Richard fully joins the Communist Party though the bickering in the club between its members, as well as those who are party members and nonparty members begins to take its toll.

When a mysterious man named Comrade Young appears at a meeting one day, stating he is part of the John Reed club of Detroit as well as a party member he is accepted immediately. He begins throwing around accusations of other members of the club, strangely, and eventually disappears. When Richard and some other members go through the belongings he left behind they discover that he escaped from a mental institution. Richard and the other men are embarrassed that they allowed this man into their club and took him seriously.

Chapter Nineteen

Richard joins with a black Communist group and is mocked by them for his eloquent and intelligent way of speaking. They also criticize him for reading books that do not relate to the Communist party, because they believe that Communists have all of the answers to life’s questions; therefore, it is irrelevant and suspicious to look for insight elsewhere. Richard wishes to write some biographical sketches of Communist party members and is allowed to do so but is soon told that intellectuals do not fit in with the Communist party, as some in the Soviet Union have been killed or expelled for intellectual behavior.

Richard explains that he is in the relief system and has a dead-end job just to make ends meet. He is baffled by the fact that his desire to bring light to the sufferings of the black community is seen as such a negative thing. Richard begins to clash with many of the other members and a series of strange situations occur that encourage Richard to be brainwashed into certain situation and ideals, of which he refuses.

Richard attends a conference in New York City that wishes to disband all John Reed clubs due to the fact that they are seen as literary clubs, which is frowned upon by the Communist party. Richard is the only person who votes to keep the John Reed clubs and so they are disbanded.

Richard is outraged by the injustice and considers leaving the party. He is asked to drop his writing entirely and when he asks to be released from the party he is refused. They wish to keep him because they want to break his determination and undermine his character.

Richard begins work for the Federal Negro Theater and with the help of a Jewish director tries to launch a series of plays that depict the struggles of the black community. The blacks refuse to work on something so controversial and take to calling Richard the “white man’s nigger” and attack him with knives.

Richard insists on being transferred to a white theater that puts on experimental productions. Richard attends a Communist trial in which one of his old comrades, Ross, is on trial for a series of offenses. Richard is both encouraged and horrified by what he witnesses at the trial, because what is said within condemns him and thus he is shunned by his former comrades.

Chapter Twenty

Richard begins work at the Federal Writer’s Project but is not accepted at this theater, either. He learns that the Communist party is behind the troubles he has faced at both theaters, and they are on a mission to sabotage any work he may find. He decides that he must make things right with the Communist party for the sake of his livelihood, though no one from the party will take a meeting with him.

Richard tries to march in the May Day Parade but cannot find his group, though he is invited to march with some of his old friends. He is spotted by two white Communists who proceed to literally throw him from the parade as his black friends stand by and watch. Richard decides that oppression has ruined everyone, including the Communists and he realizes that fighting oppression is a slow and painful process though he will not stop writing for what he believes in.