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| photo from augustwilson.net |
100 years after Andrew Carnegie educated himself at the Anderson Library in Pittsburgh, Freddy August Kittel sought refuge and knowledge at Pittsburgh’s Wylie Avenue Branch. Kittel’s teacher had accused him of plagiarism when he turned in his term paper about Napoleon. This insult, heaped upon a mountain of public school disappointments, prompted him to drop out of the 10th grade.
Luckily, Kittel was a voracious reader, he got his first library card at the age of 5, a year after his mother taught him to read. He was reading the work of black writers like Ellison and Hughes before he was a teenager and, once school was out of the way, the library offered him the chance for unbridled reading and learning. Kittel was particularly interested in understanding the place and history of African Americans in our country.
At the age of 20, Kittel changed his name to one that is now familiar to readers and theater goers around the world: August Wilson. His insatiable thirst for reading paired with a desire to write, in order to find his place in the world, led him to a career as a two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. Wilson is most famous for The Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of 10 plays set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up with his six siblings. Each play unravels part of the black experience in Pittsburgh from 1900-1990.
He did eventually get a degree but it wasn’t from the school system (think they feel a little chagrined?) it was from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. And now there is a new library in Wilson’s old neighborhood, The Hill District Branch, with its own “August Wilson Room” and a stool from Eddies, a nearby coffee shop, demolished in 2006, where Wilson used to hang out.
August Wilson didn’t remind me of Andrew Carnegie at first glance - their centuries and backgrounds are worlds apart - but they were kindred spirits when it came to educating themselves. Carnegie, an elementary school dropout, was working at the telegraph company in Pittsburgh when he discovered Colonel James Anderson’s library. His love of reading and desire to learn made him a frequent customer. He also read everything time would allow and believed that books were “treasures of knowledge”. Carnegie would always credited the library with his success, believing that his ‘education’ though books allowed him to elevate himself.
Carnegie, like Wilson, achieved great success in his life, not because of anyone (certainly not thanks to a teacher), but because of a safe place that allowed him to read, think, learn and grow on his own. Carnegie probably couldn’t even imagine a world where someone like August Wilson would be lauded as a gifted artist, but, thank goodness, he could imagine a place for people to discover their talents and rise to their potential. Without his vision and his deep pockets, Freddy Kittel may have been left out in the cold.
Luckily, Kittel was a voracious reader, he got his first library card at the age of 5, a year after his mother taught him to read. He was reading the work of black writers like Ellison and Hughes before he was a teenager and, once school was out of the way, the library offered him the chance for unbridled reading and learning. Kittel was particularly interested in understanding the place and history of African Americans in our country.
At the age of 20, Kittel changed his name to one that is now familiar to readers and theater goers around the world: August Wilson. His insatiable thirst for reading paired with a desire to write, in order to find his place in the world, led him to a career as a two time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright. Wilson is most famous for The Pittsburgh Cycle, a series of 10 plays set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up with his six siblings. Each play unravels part of the black experience in Pittsburgh from 1900-1990.
He did eventually get a degree but it wasn’t from the school system (think they feel a little chagrined?) it was from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. And now there is a new library in Wilson’s old neighborhood, The Hill District Branch, with its own “August Wilson Room” and a stool from Eddies, a nearby coffee shop, demolished in 2006, where Wilson used to hang out.
August Wilson didn’t remind me of Andrew Carnegie at first glance - their centuries and backgrounds are worlds apart - but they were kindred spirits when it came to educating themselves. Carnegie, an elementary school dropout, was working at the telegraph company in Pittsburgh when he discovered Colonel James Anderson’s library. His love of reading and desire to learn made him a frequent customer. He also read everything time would allow and believed that books were “treasures of knowledge”. Carnegie would always credited the library with his success, believing that his ‘education’ though books allowed him to elevate himself.
Carnegie, like Wilson, achieved great success in his life, not because of anyone (certainly not thanks to a teacher), but because of a safe place that allowed him to read, think, learn and grow on his own. Carnegie probably couldn’t even imagine a world where someone like August Wilson would be lauded as a gifted artist, but, thank goodness, he could imagine a place for people to discover their talents and rise to their potential. Without his vision and his deep pockets, Freddy Kittel may have been left out in the cold.
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