August Wilson

Literary and theatrical figure August Wilson (1945-2005) is best known for his cycle of ten plays known by some as the Century Cycle and by others as the Pittsburgh Cycle, taking the viewer and reader through an extended meditation on the history of African-Americans in the 20th century, with each play giving us insight into the black experience in a specific decade. This research guide will connect the user to many different sorts of resources available for free on the Internet or from your Allegheny County public library.

Banner photo of Pittsburgh at sunset was taken by Jason Pratt, 2005. Cropped. CC BY 2.0

Photo of August Wilson with his arms folded

August Wilson by David Cooper, CC BY 2.0

Introductory Articles

Biography from the August Wilson African American Cultural Center

Biography from the August Wilson Theater

Biography from Biography website

Biography from Britannica

Biography from the Pennsylvania Center for the Book

Biography from Wikipedia

Journal Articles

Open Access Content from JSTOR

Open Access Content from 2019-2022

Open Access Content from the Directory of Open Access Journals

The Century Cycle by August Wilson

A number of the plays in this cycle are available to read for free through Internet Archive. However, to read them, you must sign up for a free Internet Archive account. Those not available to read online can be borrowed from an Allegheny County public library.

Gem of the Ocean (1903)

Click title to read

Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1911)

Can be borrowed from Allegheny County Libraries

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1927)

Can be borrowed from Allegheny County Libraries

The Piano Lesson (1936) (in the Bedford Introduction to Drama)

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Seven Guitars (1948)

Can be borrowed from Allegheny County Libraries

Fences (1957) (in the Bedford Introduction to Drama)

Click title to read

Two Trains Running (1969)

Can be borrowed from Allegheny County Libraries

Jitney (1977)

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King Hedley II (1985)

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Radio Golf (1997)

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Selected Books About August Wilson

The full text of many of the books below are available to read on Internet Archive, but you must sign up for a free Internet Archive account to borrow them and read them online. It only takes a minute to do this. Books not available may be available to borrow from Allegheny County libraries.