On June 13, 1912, Ralph Ellison was born in Oklahoma City. His most celebrated work, Invisible Man, won the National Book Award in 1953 and remains a seminal novel on Black identity, alienation, and racism in America. Ellison’s lyrical prose and layered storytelling challenged both literary norms and societal injustices. Beyond fiction, he was a prolific essayist, writing on politics, music, and culture. His birth on June 13 is celebrated as the emergence of one of the most important Black intellectual voices of the 20th century. Ellison\’s insights into the Black experience still resonate today, making this date a key moment in African American literary history.
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