Colson Whitehead was born in Manhattan, New York, 1969. He was born into a middle to upper class family with 3 siblings: Clarke Whitehead, Ann Moore, Lynn Whitehead. His Mother and father, Mary Anne Whitehead Arch Whitehead, were the owners of an executive recruiting firm. This wealth gave Colson and his siblings a very financially stable childhood, and they all went to a very prestigious school called Trinity school. This was not a very diverse school with very little number of people in the school being black. Whitehead was the odd ball out due to the students  not being very nice and Colson became introverted due to the racism that he had faced. This continued as he went to Harvard after he had graduated from Trinity high school. At home, his father was unpredictable with his mood. One day his father would be happy and a quick swing into yelling and aggravation. This toxic home environment caused Whitehead to hide in books. He would lock himself in his room and read through nights and every day. He mostly enjoyed comics, SI-FI, horror, and fantasy. This large amount of reading and watching movies at home to keep him in his imagination helped him create the books he writes today. He would go on vacation to Long Island every summer. This is the place where he learned the different cultures of black communities. These vacations helped him understand the different living conditions of the black middle class communities compared to the white upper class communities. He had many different challenges to get through and pushed past all of it to become the great author he is today.

Colson Whitehead has created many different books focusing from historical racism and part events in nonfiction to fiction and writing about New York city. His writing style has evolved over the span of his writing career expanding on the strengths of emotional complexities and storytelling.  He has won two Pulitzer prizes writing the books The Underground Railroad, and The Nickel Boys, which were both books about the overcoming of racism and were made to expand people's knowledge of true events that have happened in the past. Whitehead has perfected his genre blending and perfection of realism to bring about past and present problems in society. He creates non-linear timelines in order to create a sense of need and makes people want to understand more about the book and the issues it brings to life. He writes about the truth of our history and brings to light many injustices such as the Nickel Boys and makes people learn more about everything in his books. He continues to expand his literature for the better with every new book he writes and continues to create great symbolism in every book he writes.

Colson Whitehead faced many social, emotional and physical hardships throughout his life and childhood. He was bullied by people in his school because he wasn't white. No one wanted to be his friend in school and that caused him to become an introvert and not talk to many people at all during his schooling. His home life as a child was a nightmare with his fathers inconsistent emotions and nights of yelling. His father was an alcoholic and that caused many scary nights for Colson. He also had to face rejection early into his career. His first novel was rejected 25 times before getting published to the public. He could have quit but his determination and persistence caused him to become the great man he is today. Luckily, he is not cursed with any health issues that are known, but his brother had passed away at the age of 48 due to heart failure. This was a great challenge for Colson because he and his brother were close. They had to face the same things together and their bond was very close when they were young. They were even called inseparable, so the death really caused a hit in Colson's  mental health and made him face more challenges to overcome.

Today Colson Whitehead is still living in New York with his wife, Julie Barer, a literary agent,and has three other children. One of which he had with his ex wife Natasha Stovall. The other two children he had with his wife. He is still balancing his life as a father and full time writer and author. He is currently working on the last book of the Harlem trilogy. This new book is supposed to be a new way of intertwining genres and a new approach to storytelling altogether.  His recent book got the Gotham prize winning him $50,000 and he received the St. Louis literary award in April. Colson Whitehead still lives a private life while going to author signings and some public interactions. He is a very kind person and is continuing his great writings and literary techniques.