August Wilson was a playwright and poet from Pittsburgh. He was awarded an honorary high school diploma from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and enlisted in the Army for a short while. He co-founded the Black Horizon Theater in 1968 along with Rob Penny.
A few of Wilson’s works include Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982), Fences (1987), and The Piano Lesson (1990); the latter two plays each won a Pulitzer Prize. Fences also won a Tony Award for Best Play.
Information from the Poetry Foundation.