Sarah E. Wright
Sarah E. Wright was an impactful African American author and teacher, born in Wetipquin, Maryland, an area rich in abolitionist history. Her literary work, particularly her acclaimed novel *This Child's Gonna Live*, explores themes of human struggle and resilience, reflecting the legacy of historical figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Wright’s writing is characterized by her commitment to encouraging compassion and understanding, as highlighted in her most famous poem, "To Some Millions Who Survive Joseph Mander, Sr.," which addresses themes of heroism and humanity.
Wright was not only a novelist but also a dedicated educator and community advocate, holding various roles in artistic organizations, including serving as vice president of the Harlem Writers Guild. She was a certified poetry therapist and actively engaged in promoting literature through lectures and discussions. Throughout her life, she was recognized for her contributions to literature, with *This Child's Gonna Live* being celebrated for its enduring impact. Wright’s work often depicted the harsh realities of poverty and racism faced by African American families during the early twentieth century. She passed away on September 13, 2009, leaving behind a legacy of literary excellence and social conscience.
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Subject Terms
Sarah E. Wright
American novelist and poet
- Born: December 9, 1928
- Birthplace: Wetipquin, Maryland
- Died: September 13, 2009
- Place of death: Manhattan, New York
Identity: African American
Biography
Sarah Elizabeth Wright was born in the town of Wetipquin on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the birthplace of abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. The pride and heroics of these cultural icons live on in Wright’s books. In “An Appreciation,” the afterword to the 1986 edition of Wright’s acclaimed novel This Child’s Gonna Live, author John Oliver Killens, who was Wright’s mentor, identifies a similarity of faith and humanistic struggle between Wright’s commitment to encouraging humankind and that of the historical models of African American struggle.
Wright’s father, Willis Charles, was an oysterman, barber, farmer, and musician. Her mother, the former Mary Amelia Moore, was a homemaker, barber, farmworker, and factory worker. Wright married Joseph G. Kaye, a composer, and had two children, Michael and Shelley. She attended Howard University (1945-1949) and the former Cheyney State Teachers College (1950-1952). In addition to being a writer, she worked as a teacher, a bookkeeper, and an office manager.
Wright had a rich history of artistic organization. She was a member of the Authors Guild, the Authors League of America, International PEN, and the International Women’s Writing Guild. She served as vice president of the Harlem Writers Guild and as president of Pen & Brush, Inc. (1992-1993), the oldest professional organization of women in the United States. Wright put these experiences together to develop a career as a certified poetry therapist. She has also been active as a lecturer, teacher, and panelist on forums for radio and television talk shows, community centers, and schools.
Wright began writing in the third grade, and during her college years at Howard University she received encouragement from Sterling A. Brown, Langston Hughes, and Owen Dodson. She is best known as a novelist, although her first published work, Give Me a Child, with Lucy Smith, is an illustrated book of poems aimed at making poetry accessible to the general public. Her best-known and most frequently anthologized poem, “To Some Millions Who Survive Joseph Mander, Sr.,” was first published in Give Me a Child. The poem reflects an actual incident in which an African American man drowned while attempting to save a white person. In the poem, Wright urges readers to embrace Mander’s humanism and compassion.
Although Wright published few works, she is critically acclaimed. This Child’s Gonna Live was selected as one of the most important books of 1969 by The New York Times, and the novel was celebrated in 1994, on its silver anniversary, for being continuously in print since 1969. Some readers cite This Child’s Gonna Live as one of the most painful novels they have ever read. The story of Mariah Upshur and her family struggling during the Depression is a dramatic saga of despair. The trials of the Upshur family—thematically centered on Mariah’s resolve to save her children from hopelessness—reflect the realities of early twentieth century poverty and racism. Wright did not attempt to spare readers from understanding the tragedy.
Her later works include A. Philip Randolph: Integration in the Workplace, a young adult book published as part of a series on the history of the Civil Rights movement. Wright died on September 13, 2009 at age 80.
Bibliography
Campbell, Jennifer. “‘It’s a Time in the Land’: Gendering Black Power and Sarah E. Wright’s Place in the Tradition of Black Women’s Writing.” African American Review 31, no. 2 (1997): 211-222. This article is a critical treatment of gender and black nationalism in Wright’s This Child’s Gonna Live.
Harris, Trudier. “Three Black Women Writers and Humanism: A Folk Perspective.” In Black Literature and Humanism, edited by R. Baxter. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1981. This study of how three black women writers address small-town community values, achievements, and survival strategies compares Wright’s This Child’s Gonna Live, Alice Walker’s The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), and Paule Marshall’s The Chosen Place, the Timeless People (1969).
Houston, Helen. R. “Sarah Elizabeth Wright.” In Oxford Companion to African American Literature, edited by William L. Andrews, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. This essay offers contemporary biographical data on Wright, highlighting her works and her contemporaries.
White, Linda. “Sarah Elizabeth Wright.” In Contemporary African American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Wright has not penned an autobiography, so this essay is one of the lengthier biographical treatments available on the author with an exhaustive bibliography.