Afro–American Autobiography as Ideological Documentation: A study of Richard Wright’s Black Boy

Nasir Umar Muhammad

Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

A pre-occupation with the political and social problem is evident in the works of a number of early black writers. The Afro – Americans and indeed, the black race had undergone several stages of human and material exploitation, from the triangular slave trade period of the 15^th century to the colonization period of the 18^th century. This paper examines the theory of Afro –American autobiography and places Richard Wright’s Black Boy within the continuum of Black autobiography. The paper discuses issues relating to the formation of an ideology in Afro- American Autobiography .The  paper further seeks to prove that , autobiography a part from being a study of the Creative Process, a humanistic study of the ways of men and the forms taken by human consciousness can also be viewed as an ideological document

Keywords: Black boy, autobiography, Ideology, race.