August Wilson was born Frederick August Kittel on April 27, 1945, in Pittsburgh, PA. His white father was not present in his childhood, and Wilson adopted his strong-willed mother's surname when he began to write. When his mother re-married, Wilson moved to a mostly-white suburb, and experienced the extent of racism in the school system. After two more schools, he dropped out, and began to self-educate himself at the library.
In his twenties, Wilson decided he would be a poet, and had a few poems published in magazines. He also became familiar with and was influenced by the Black Power movement, and with some other poets he founded a theater company that served the Hill District of...
