Richard Wright

Rexroth met Wright in a Chicago communist club, and argued with him — as a friend — for a lifetime. Auden lived in the same Brooklyn house as Wright, Welles collaborated on a stage production, and Ellison asked Hughes, a mutual friend, to introduce him (they became close friends). In Paris, Wright befriended Camus and Sartre, met Stein, Gide, Fanon (an admirer), Senghor and Césaire, and assisted with the launch of Diop’s journal. He helped and influenced black writers like Himes, Baldwin, and Ellison (also Algren, a good friend). Parks was inspired by him. Grierson, McLaren, Boas and Lévi-Strauss were all correspondents.