Recovering the Lost Radicalism of Richard Wright’s “Black Confession”

Drawing on original archival research, this article analyzes substantial changes that long-time Communist (and famously anti-Communist) African American author Richard Wright made to his influential autobiography, published as Black Boy/American Hunger , but originally written under the title “Black Confession.” Particular attention is given to Wright’s evolving depiction of his attraction to, and later his departing from, the Communist Party, as well as his excised accounts of inter-racial comradeship. Contrasting with the more metaphysical, fatalist account of his falling out with the CPUSA that pervades the published version, Wright’s unpublished “Black Confession” expresses a critical communism, offering us nuanced, particularized, and contingent reflections on political affiliation and struggle, replete with lessons for today.