W. D. Wright

Dr. W. D. Wright, born in 1936, is a professor emeritus of history at Southern Connecticut State University and the author of seven books focusing on race and racism. He earned his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was significantly influenced by W. E. B. Du Bois, adopting the label of a Du Boisian historical sociologist. His doctoral dissertation was published as "The Socialist Analysis of W. E. B. Du Bois." Wright was raised in Michigan City, Indiana, during the Great Depression, one of eight children. His father, Charles Noble Wright, worked for the Pullman Train Company, and his mother, Harriet Elizabeth Wright, was the first Black woman to graduate high school in Michigan City. His great-grandmother, Elizabeth Downey, was emancipated from slavery around 1863. Wright was an early Black varsity basketball player in Michigan City and received a scholarship to the University of Michigan. He was also a childhood friend of Richard G. Hatcher, the first Black mayor in Indiana. Wright's academic work contends that historians and intellectuals have struggled to differentiate between race and racism, which has hindered their understanding of Black people in America. He distinguishes Black Americans as a distinct ethnic group within the broader Black race, comprising people from Africa, the West Indies, and Hispanic backgrounds. Wright also lectures on how white racism has impacted white people, leading to delusion, dehumanization, and alienation, while Black people remain the primary victims of this system. He views the Black experience in America as a testament to human resilience, encompassing both rich dimensions of human existence and profound oppression, highlighting the achievements of Black people in surviving and developing through and after slavery. He has authored numerous books including "Crisis of the Black Intellectual" (2007), "Racism Matters" (1998), and "The Socialist Analysis of W. E. B. Du Bois" (1985).