A Visit to the Library by Richard Wright

A Visit to the Library

     The personal essay “A Visit to the Library” (1945), written by Richard Wright suggests that reading can change the way racism is interpreted and its connection to the personal life of the Negros in the south. Wright supports his theses by explaining and giving details about his experience with co-workers, a librarian, and other white men. Wright purpose was to let people know that reading was important in order to be able to help understand racism and why it is so frowned on in the south.
The general audience of this essay is for anyone that has experienced racism in the south.

     I am touched by Richard Wright's essay and surprised at  his potential to read books despite the  risks he was taking to get books from the library. Being that blacks did not have equal rights to read, Wright was careful in hiding material from racist men that he works with. I believe from his essay, not all people were racist in those days because it ended up being a white man that made it possible for him to get books for him. In addition, the librarian helped Wright to get the right book even though she was somewhat suspicious of him. I'm really thankful for those people who assisted him to explore his interest in reading books by Mencken.

     Wright explains his experience about racism and how difficult it was to read books for black boys in the south by saying, “There was a huge library near the riverfront, but I knew that Negroes were not allowed to patronize its shelves any more than they were the parks and playgrounds of the city” (118). Wright continues to acknowledge his experience of racism by the way the librarian questioned him by asking him if the books were for him that he was getting and he replies by saying, "Oh, no, ma'am. I can't read "(121). He also described how he would wrap the books in newspaper in order to cover up what he was reading but the men he worked with would still pry into his packages and then in turn question him.  He clearly expressed how reading could change someones life. For example,  “It was not a matter of believing or disbelieving what I read, but of feeling something new, of being affected by something that made the look the world different” (122). Wright learned a lot through reading those books but was careful not to show it. He knew life could be better for him and his family in the north versus the south but he knew he stuck and had no way out.