liberately placing his novel, Gone Fishin, with the
black publishing house Black Classic Press, rather
than a larger firm with more marketing dollars.
Likewise, he has been critical of the ongoing
exploitation that resonates in the capitalistic sys-
tem toward people of color and the underclass. In
1996, while working with the African Studies In-
stitute at New York University, Mosley organized
a lecture series of various black figures, including
Angela Davis, Randall Robinson, and BELL HOOKS,
called “Black Genius.” That series led to his coed-
iting of the book Black Genius: African-American
Solutions to African-American Problems (1999), in
which Mosley writes an introduction and a reflec-
tive essay. In 2000 he published Workin’ on the
Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of His-
tory, a nonfiction book that assesses the American
economic and political system and the responsi-
bilities of readers to reject dehumanizing prac-
tices and to consider alternative approaches when
choosing leadership.
In less than 15 years, Walter Mosley has carved
out a significant position in American popular
literature and established himself as a formidable
presence in the African-American literary tradi-
tion. He provides an example of a black writer
finding international fame and financial success,
but more important, he serves as a model of a
black author who merges a passion for creativity
with a commitment to his community.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berger, Roger A. “ ‘The Black Dick’: Race, Sexuality,
and Discourse in the L.A. Novels of Walter Mos-
l e y.” African American Review (Summer 1997):
281–294.
Crooks, Robert. “From the Far Side of the Urban
Frontier: The Detective Fiction of Chester Himes
and Walter Mosley.” College Literature (October
1995): 68–90.
Fine, David, ed. Los Angeles in Fiction: A Collection
of Essays: From James M. Cain to Walter Mosley.
Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,
1995.
Frumkes, Lewis Burke. “A Conversation with Walter
Mosley.” Writer (December 1999): 20.
Mason, Theodore O., Jr. “Walter Mosley’s Easy Raw-
lins: The Detective and Afro-American Fiction.”
Kenyon Review (Fall 1992): 173–183.
Woods, Paula L. Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes: Black
Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction. New York:
Doubleday, 1996.
Mel DonalsonMotley, Willard Francis (1909–1965)
Motley, the son of a Pullman porter, was born
into a middle-class black Chicago family on July
14, 1912. The Great Depression prevented Motley
from attending college after graduating from En-
glewood High School in 1929. Motley, who grew
up in a predominantly white neighborhood on
Chicago’s South Side, worked at various low-pay-
ing jobs during his youth and young adulthood,
including as a farm worker, waiter, shipping clerk,
and cook. To know intricately the living and
working conditions of the American poor of his
day, Motley secured an apartment in the Bowery
section of Chicago. Motley, whose first published
short story appeared in the Chicago Defender
when he was 13, eventually wrote for the socialist
journal Commonweal and worked for the Federal
Writers Project to learn more about economic
and living conditions in Chicago’s impoverished
black community.
Although writing during the post–World War
II period meant that he was inevitably associated
with the school of literary naturalism, domi-
nated by RICHARD WRIGHT, Motley was among
a cadre of black writers who broadened their
perspectives to include nonracial themes and
white protagonists (Bell, 189), including FRANK
YERBY, CHESTER HIMES, WILLIAM DEMBY, ANN
PETRY, JAMES BALDWIN, and even Wright himself.
Thus, although Knock on Any Door, Motley’s 1947
best-selling novel, focuses on the experience of a
character like Wright’s Bigger Thomas, Motley’s
protagonist, Nick Romano, a former Catholic
altar boy, is the son of Italian immigrants. After
he is sent to reform school for a crime he did not
commit, Nick returns home a converted criminal.Motley, Willard Francis 371