February 9: On this day in 1952—African American Author Ralph Ellison’s Novel, Invisible Man, Wins the National Book Award!

Ralph Ellison had a unique upbringing. Ellison was born in a poor neighborhood in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At the time, Oklahoma was a frontier state with no legacy of slavery, making it a unique space for fluid racial integration not possible even in the North. Despite his financial state, Ellison had the mobility to go to a good school and the motivation to find mentors—both black and white—from among the most accomplished people in the city. 

Ralph Ellison’s literary masterpiece, Invisible Man, challenged American society to reflect on the state of contemporary race relations in 1950s America and contributed to the progress of American social values. The themes in Invisible Man were unprecedented and transcended traditional social dynamics. Ellison fashions the main character as a complex Southern black man that feels chained by social expectations forced upon him by both black and white members of society. The Invisible Man searches for identity and truth in the social normative and arrives at an interesting conclusion.

Ellison felt that the task of the writer is to “tell us about the unity of American experience beyond all considerations of class, of race, of religion.” Ellison was undoubtedly ahead of his time and out of step with the literary and political climates of both black and white America. Today, as we reflect on the implications Invisible Man has on social justice, racial equality, we remember the contributions of the prominent African American novelist Ralph Ellison.