Centuries hence, when the important Afro-American writers of our day are studied, perhaps Ralph Ellison--novelist, short-story writer, and essayist--will be considered the most indispensable. Already, a great many critics think that his Invisible Man (1952) is one of the most significant American novels of the twentieth century.

Ralph Waldo Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on 1 March 1914 to Lewis Ellison and Ida Millsap Ellison. Lewis Ellison, a native of Abbeville, South Carolina, had traveled to Cuba, the Philippines, and China as an enlisted soldier. Returning to Abbeville, he and a partner operated an ice-cream parlor until he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he found employment with a construction firm. When Lewis and Ida Ellison moved to Oklahoma a few years after statehood was attained, Lewis put his skills to work in helping to build some of the first steel-and-concrete structures in Oklahoma City. After serving as a construction...