Willard Motley
| Willard Motley | |
|---|---|
Portrait of Willard Motley, by Carl Van Vechten 1947
|
|
| Born |
July 14, 1909 Chicago |
| Died | March 4, 1965 (aged 55) Mexico City |
| Occupation | Author |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | African American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Notable works | Knock On Any Door |
| Relatives | Archibald Motley |
Willard Francis Motley (July 14, 1909 – March 4, 1965) was an African-American writer. He published a column in the Chicago Defender under the pen-name Bud Billiken. Motley also worked as a freelance writer, and later founded and published the Hull House Magazine and worked in the Federal Writers Project. His first and best known novel was Knock on Any Door (1947).
Motley was born and grew up in the Englewood neighborhood, South Side, Chicago, in one of the only African-American families residing there. He is related to the noted artist Archibald Motley. The two were raised as brothers, although in actuality Archibald was Willard's uncle. He was hired by Robert S. Abbott to write a children's column called "Bud Says" under the pseudonym "Bud Billiken", for the Chicago Defender. He graduated from Lewis-Champlain grammar school, and Englewood High School.
He traveled to New York, California and the western states, earning a living through various menial jobs, as well as by writing for the radio and newspapers. Returning to Chicago in 1939, he lived near the Maxwell Street Market, which was to figure prominently in his later writing. He became associated with Hull House, and helped found the Hull House Magazine, in which some of his fiction appeared. In 1940 he wrote for the Works Progress Administration Federal Writers Project along with Richard Wright and Nelson Algren.
In 1947 his first novel, Knock on Any Door, appeared to critical acclaim. A work of gritty naturalism, it concerns the life of Nick Romano, an Italian-American altar boy who turns to crime because of poverty and the difficulties of the immigrant experience. It was an immediate hit, selling 47,000 copies during its first three weeks in print. In 1949 it became a movie starring Humphrey Bogart. In response to critics who charged Motley with avoiding issues of race by writing about white characters, Motley said, "My race is the human race."
...
Wikipedia