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Richard Wright

Richard Wright was born on a plantation in Roxie, Mississippi on September 4, 1908. The grandchild of slaves, he had a difficult childhood, marked by poverty and instability. His father, Nathaniel Wright, was a

Between the World and Me

by Richard Wright (1908–60)

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16

And one morning while in the woods I stumbled suddenly upon the thing,

Stumbled upon it in a grassy clearing guarded by scaly oaks and elms.

And the sooty details of the scene rose, thrusting themselves between the world and me. . . .

 There was a design of white bones slumbering forgottenly upon a cushion of ashes. 
 There was a charred stump of a sapling pointing a blunt finger accusingly at the sky. 
 There were torn tree limbs, tiny veins of burnt leaves, and a scorched coil of greasy hemp; 
 A vacant shoe, an empty tie, a ripped shirt, a lonely hat, and a pair of trousers stiff with black blood. 
 And upon the trampled grass were buttons, dead matches, butt-ends of cigars and cigarettes, peanut shells, a drained gin-flask, and a whore's lipstick; 
 Scattered traces of tar, restless arrays of feathers, and the lingering smell of gasoline. 

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