Narrating the Economics of Black Life With August Wilson [Charles Mudede]

All Levels | This class will focus on five works by the late August Wilson. These plays constitute half of the poet’s American Century Cycle, a project set in the Hill District, Pittsburgh’s historically Black neighborhood. In this class, we’ll examine and learn from the literary brilliance of one of America’s greatest poets, and his command of the macro- and microeconomics of Black poverty. Given the recent sequence of Black Lives Matter protests and a pandemic that disproportionately kills Black Americans — events which have their foundation in the history of US slavery — there is no better time to dive in to Wilson’s work. The plays: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Jitney, Fences, Two Trains Running, and Radio Golf.

All students in reading classes will receive a book club discount on the instructor’s reading list at the Elliott Bay Book Co.