Pre-Read: Invisible Man

     Ralph Ellison was born March 1, 1913 in Oklahoma City. He was raised by a single mother with his brother Hubert as their father died in a work related accident when he was three years old. He was a trumpet player, and since Tuskegee was lacking in trumpet players he was admitted into the college. In his college years, he aspired to be a symphony composer, and had to go to New York in 1936 in order to raise funds for college.
     In New York, he initially planned to return to college after earning enough money, but instead began to work as a researcher and writer for the New York Federal Writers Program. It was there that he met people such as Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, and Alain Locke. These writers mentored him while he worked in New York, and he published poems and short stories in The Negro Quarterly and acted as managing editor. After this, he enlisted as a Marine cook during WWII and married his first and only wife, Fanny McConnel. 
      Ellison began writing his most famous novel, Invisible Man, at his friend's farm. The novel, published in 1952, was an immediate hit. It was on the best sellers list for a time and won the National Book Award the following year. The novel was seen as a great insight on the problems of race in America and influenced much of American writing after its release.
     The reason that the novel is so popular even today is due to its prevalence in our society. Even now, 66 years after its release, the novel addresses problems that American people struggle with. Blindness, Invisibility, the definition of freedom, these are all ideals that society debates over. Is everyone truly free in America if we still racially stereotype for the sake of "safety"? Media blinds us and makes us fight against one another rather than seeing the bigger picture and identifying the true problems with our country. The top 1% only sees everyone as a way to make money, and they are the ones that control our country. The novel speaks to people so well because it's not just a story only one race can identify with. Everyone in our world can find something in this novel tthat applies to them today.