Biography Essay

Though his reputation rests on a single novel, many critics consider Ralph Ellison to be the preeminent Afro-American writer, and others have argued that Invisible Man ranks with the most significant American literary works of this century. In the thirty-five years since Invisible Man was published, Ellison has been largely silent, publishing only a handful of essays and stories and, between 1960 and 1977, excerpts from his novel-in-progress. Nevertheless, the accomplishment of his masterpiece is sufficient to insure his literary stature.

Ellison's parents were southerners. Ida Millsap, originally from White Oak, Georgia, met and married Lewis Ellison, an ice cream parlor owner who later entered the construction business in Abbeville, South Carolina, and moved to Oklahoma with him a few years after statehood was attained in 1907. A political activist, Ida Ellison— or "Brownie," as she was commonly called—canvassed Negro voters for Eugene Debs's Socialist party...