August Wilson Fences Research Paper

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Pages: 2

August Wilson’s Fences, written in 1985, follows a former Negro League baseball star now scraping by as a sanitation worker, Troy Maxson, in segregated Pittsburgh during the 1950s. Fences is the third play in Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle” which aims to tell authentic stories of Black Americans that are both relatable and educational. This cycle began in the 1900s and ended in the 1990s. Fences fell in the 1950s and tells a story related to the barriers or fences most Black Americans came up against at this time due solely to their Blackness. August Wilson, being a Black man himself, had grown up in the segregated Pittsburgh area during the 50s and had experienced or at least witnessed much of what he discusses in this play. This helps to justify