William Attaway facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Attaway
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| Born | William Alexander Attaway November 19, 1911 Greenville, Mississippi United States |
| Died | June 17, 1986 (aged 74) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, essayist |
| Period | 1935–1967 |
| Genre | Proletarian literature |
| Notable works | Blood on the Forge, "Banana Boat Song" |
William Alexander Attaway (born November 19, 1911 – died June 17, 1986) was an African-American writer. He wrote novels, short stories, and essays. He was also a songwriter, playwright, and wrote scripts for TV and movies.
Contents
Biography
Early life
William Attaway was born in Greenville, Mississippi, on November 19, 1911. His father, W. A. Attaway, was a doctor. His mother, Florence Parry Attaway, was a teacher. When William was six, his family moved to Chicago, Illinois. This move was part of the Great Migration. Many African Americans moved from the Southern United States to the North to escape segregation.
Education and early work
In Chicago, William was not very interested in school at first. But then he read a poem by Langston Hughes. When he learned that Hughes was a Black poet, William started to work harder. He loved writing and even wrote plays for his sister Ruth's acting group.
After high school, William went to the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. He was a champion tennis player there. When his father died, William left college for two years. During this time, he worked many different jobs. He was a salesman, a labor organizer, and a sailor. These experiences gave him ideas for his future writings. He later returned to the University of Illinois and earned his degree in 1936.
Family and personal life
In 1962, William Attaway married Frances Settele. They had two children, Bill and Noelle. Frances was a white woman from New York. They had known each other for 20 years before getting married. The family moved to Barbados for eleven years. They wanted to avoid racial problems and threats in the United States.
William Attaway's daughter, Noelle, remembers that Martin Luther King Jr. called her father "a fellow freedom fighter." William Attaway marched with King during the Civil Rights Movement. He was part of the "Bloody Sunday" voting rights protest in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965.
Death
In his later years, William Attaway lived in Berkeley and then Los Angeles, California. He was working on a movie script called The Atlanta Child Murders. He had a heart attack and died on June 17, 1986, at age 74.
Literary career
Early writing
In 1935, William Attaway started working on his first big project. He helped write a guide to Illinois for the Federal Writers' Project. During this time, he became good friends with Richard Wright, who also became a famous writer. After this project, Attaway got his degree from the University of Illinois. Then he moved to New York City. His play Carnival was performed there.
His first short story, "Tale of the Blackamoor," was published in 1936. He worked many different jobs between his writing projects. He even tried acting with his sister Ruth. Ruth later became a successful Broadway actress. She helped William in his writing career. In 1939, Attaway's first novel, Let Me Breathe Thunder, was published. Then he wrote his second and last novel, Blood on the Forge.
Songwriting and screenwriting
After Blood on the Forge, Attaway started writing songs, movie scripts, and books about music. Some of his important music books are Calypso Song Book and Hear America Singing. Attaway and Irving Burgie wrote the famous song "Day-O" ("Banana Boat Song") for the singer Harry Belafonte.
In the 1950s, Attaway began writing for radio, TV, and movies. He was the first African American to write scripts for film and TV. He wrote for shows like Wide Wide World and Colgate Hour. Even though critics liked his work, Attaway did not become as famous as some other African-American writers, like Richard Wright.
Popular music
Calypso Song Book
In his book Calypso Song Book, Attaway wrote about Calypso. This is music from the West Indies. He said it was becoming very popular. Attaway explained that Calypso music has two main types. One is for fun, bouncy songs. The other is for more serious topics. But he added that a funny twist is important in any true Calypso song. Each song in the book has music notes and a short story next to its title.
Hear America Singing
In 1967, Attaway published Hear America Singing for children. This book was a collection of popular American music. It also included historical information. Harry Belafonte wrote in the introduction that folk singing is important for growing up. He said folk music is the music of all people.
In one chapter, Attaway wrote about the song "Greensleeves." He said that folk songs usually change over time. But "Greensleeves" was special because it stayed almost the same for centuries. It came from England and was loved by many people in America, including pioneers. Attaway felt it was too beautiful to change.
Script writing
William Attaway's sister, Ruth, helped him get into the theater world. He also acted in some plays. One play was a traveling show of George S. Kaufman's You Can't Take it With You in 1939. Attaway wrote an important TV special in 1966 called One Hundred Years of Laughter. It was about black humor. He also wrote the script for the 1981 TV movie Grambling's White Tiger. This movie was about race relations.
Works
Literature
- Carnival (1935)
- Let Me Breathe Thunder (1939)
- Blood on the Forge (1941)
- Calypso Song Book (1957)
- Hear America Singing (nonfiction) (1967)
- From These Hills, From These Valleys: Selected Fiction About Western Pennsylvania. (Some of Attaway's works were included in this collection.)
Style and themes
Racial struggles
William Attaway often wrote about racial issues. This is clear in his novel Blood on the Forge. In this book, Attaway shows the difficulties faced by the Black community during The Great Migration. Attaway himself experienced this when his family moved to Chicago in 1916.
Blood on the Forge tells the story of three brothers. It describes the challenges African Americans faced to gain acceptance and equality. His detailed writing helps readers understand the struggles of African Americans. They moved from the Southern United States to the North, hoping for a better life that was not always guaranteed.
Loss of folk culture
In Blood on the Forge, Attaway also writes about the Moss brothers. Through their story, he shows how Black people lost some of their traditional folk culture. This happened as they moved from the rural South to industrial cities in the North, like the steel mills in Pennsylvania. This was around the time of World War I. Attaway explores what he called the "death of the blues." This means the loss of the old folk culture that the blues music represented.
Legacy
William Attaway's most important work is his novel Blood on the Forge. Many people say it is the best story about the Great Migration era in American literature. Attaway is an important African-American writer from the early 20th century. His book Blood on the Forge was reprinted in 1993. This brought new attention to his writing from both critics and readers.
See also
In Spanish: William Attaway para niños
