Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust ... ... ...
Supposedly, we come from dust and to it we shall return - somehow! Sometimes before that actually happens, overzealous photographers may snap photos of us on the way to the crematorium - especially if we happen to be famous expatriate authors living in Paris. On November 28, 1960, the pioneer African American author Richard Wright passed away in France where he'd lived since 1946. That morning he went into a clinic for a routine checkup. He was not particularly ill and the nurses reported that he'd been laughing and joking. However, something really strange happened overnight. He died!
The press said he died of a sudden heart attack, but his daughter Julia said he was murdered! Three days prior, his friend & mentor Langston Hughes, claimed to have been his very last visitor and noticed nothing amiss. Richard Wright was 52 years old.
The top photo shows Wright's widow, the former Ellen Poplar, and their daughter Julia as the author's ashes are carried away from his memorial service in Paris. They were interred in Le Pere Lachsise Cemetary. Right before the cremation, someone found it necessary to photograph Wright with one of his most famous books, Black Boy.
Richard Wright was a prolific novelist, short-story writer and essayist whose work brought a new recognition & discussion to race relations. His three classic, masterpiece works include the semi-autobiographical Black Boy, Native Son (which introduced the infamous Bigger Thomas) and Uncle Tom's Children, a collection of provocative short stories. Wright's work helped to open the discussion on a common African American experience that was shared by many blacks of his era. However, his early jump-ship to Europe caused many to later charge him with being "out of touch" with the struggle at home.
Richard Wright; ashes to ashes, dust to dust but through time immortal!
Your blog is very classic, and I love this post.
Posted by: Bama | June 24, 2011 at 06:49 PM