Richard Wright was born on Rucker’s Plantation between Roxie and Natchez, Mississippi. He was born on September 4, 1908. When he was five his father left and his mom was forced to go get jobs away from home. For a while, Richard and his brother were in an orphanage. Ella, Wright’s mother, became a paralytic and moved the kids all over until they settled Jackson. They moved in with the boys grandparents who were strict Seventh day Adventists. His Grandma believed that books were the work of the devil so she kept them out of the house. Wright moved from school to school and graduated in 1925 as class valedictorian. He graduated from Smith Robertson Junior High School in Jackson. Then he published his first short story, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-acre”.
