Editing August Wilson (section)

=== 1960s ===
Wilson knew that he wanted to be a writer, but this created tension with his mother, who wanted him to become a lawyer. She forced him to leave the family home and he enlisted in the United States Army for a three-year stint in 1962, but he was discharged after a year<ref>{{Cite web |title=August Wilson {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-literature-biographies/august-wilson |access-date=2024-01-09 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> and went back to working various odd jobs as a porter, short-order cook, gardener, and dishwasher.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Frederick August Kittel Jr. changed his name to August Wilson to honor his mother after his father's death in 1965. That same year, he discovered the blues as sung by [[Bessie Smith]], and he bought a stolen typewriter for $10, which he often pawned when money was tight.<ref Name="Parisreview"/> At 20, he decided he was a poet and submitted work to such magazines as ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]''.<ref Name="NYT"/> He began to write in bars, the local cigar store, and cafes—longhand on table napkins and on yellow notepads, absorbing the voices and characters around him. He liked to write on cafe napkins because, he said, it freed him up and made him less self-conscious as a writer. He would then gather the notes and type them up at home.<ref Name="NYT"/> Gifted with a talent for catching dialect and accents, Wilson had an "astonishing memory", which he put to full use during his career. He slowly learned not to censor the language he heard when incorporating it into his work.<ref Name="Parisreview"/>

[[File:PittsburghPaAWH2.jpg|thumb|right|[[August Wilson House|Wilson's childhood home]] at 1727 Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh]]
[[Malcolm X]]'s voice influenced Wilson's life and work (such as ''The Ground on Which I Stand,'' 1996). Both the [[Nation of Islam]] (NOI) and the [[Black Power]] movement spoke to him regarding self-sufficiency, self-defense, and [[self-determination]], and he appreciated the origin myths that [[Elijah Muhammad]] supported. In 1969 Wilson married Brenda Burton, a Muslim, and became associated with the NOI, though he reportedly did not convert.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=December 30, 2020 |title=From Allah to Broadway. August Wilson's roots in the Nation of Islam |url=https://nycreligion.info/allah-broadway-august-wilsons-roots-nation-islam/ |access-date=October 3, 2022 |website=A Journey through NYC religions |language=en-US}}</ref> He and Brenda had one daughter, Sakina Ansari-Wilson. The couple divorced in 1972.<ref name= "Little 2000" />

In 1968, along with his friend [[Rob Penny]], Wilson co-founded the [[Black Horizon Theater]] in the [[Hill District (Pittsburgh)|Hill District of Pittsburgh]].<ref Name="NYT"/> Wilson's first play, ''Recycling'', was performed for audiences in small theaters, schools and public housing community centers for 50 cents a ticket. Among these early efforts was ''[[Jitney (play)|Jitney]]'', which he revised more than two decades later as part of his 10-play cycle on 20th-century Pittsburgh.<ref name= "Little 2000" /> He had no directing experience.<ref Name="NYT"/> He recalled: "Someone had looked around and said, 'Who's going to be the director?' I said, 'I will.' I said that because I knew my way around the library. So I went to look for a book on how to direct a play. I found one called ''The Fundamentals of Play Directing'' <ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4X4UAAAAQBAJ|first1=Alexander|last1= Dean |first2=Lawrence |last2=Carra |date=2009 |title=Fundamentals of Play Directing|edition=5th |publisher=Waveland Press |location=Long Grove, IL |isbn=978-1-57766-648-6 }}</ref> and checked it out."<ref Name="Parisreview"/>