Wright was born into slavery on May 16, 1855, near Dalton Georgia. There he attended the Storrs school founded for free Black people’s education. The school would eventually become Atlanta University.
Wright saw the future of Black Americans in the south at a young age. Retired Union General Oliver Otis Howard visited Storrs in 1868.
There, Howard asked the students what message should he take to the North with him. Wright replied, “Sir, tell them we are rising.” Not only was it Wright’s time to rise, but it was also time for his people to rise too.
Wright founded the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth, now known as Savannah State University, serving as its first president from 1891 to 1921.
Wright took a balanced approach to Black higher education incorporating both liberal arts and vocational training.
In 1921 at the age of 67, Wright retired from his collegiate position to open a bank in Philadelphia. He then started the National Negro Bankers Association in 1927.
Wright’s bank would survive the Great Depression and go on to amass assets amounting to $5.5 million when sold to Black investors in 1957.
Richard Wright Sr. proves that our many talents can be used at once to bring us closer to Black liberation.