A Deep Dive of Colson Whitehead

Whitehead posing for The Talks (10)

A Bit About Colson Whitehead

Born in 1969, Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead was raised in Manhattan to Arch and Mary Anne Whitehead. Whitehead was the third of four children, with two older sisters and a brother. Colson went by "Chipp" growing up but later switched to "Colson" at 21. (3)

Arch and Mary Whitehead owned an executive recruiting firm that bolstered his family's wealth, sending Colson and his siblings to elite private schools. Arch Whitehead, the father of Colson, had temperament and drinking problems, which included egotistical opinions on race in America and his people. 

As Whitehead grew up, his high school years included experimenting with different kinds of literature, primarily fiction, which would influence his decision to pursue writing as a career. He idolized the works of famous minority faces of literature, such as Ralph Ellison, including his work, Invisible Man, and Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. (3)

Colson's academic career took him to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Harvard University, where he would study English and comparative literature. Harvard's English department didn't teach much about the modern American novel, so Whitehead turned to innovators like Thomas Pynchon and John Barth and black absurdists like Ishmael Reed. (3)

Whitehead’s post-collegiate life took him home to where it all began: in New York with his parents. His first writing job was with the Village Voice, where he landed his first agent and wrote various media forms, such as television reviews, books, and music. (12)

Zone One Novel Cover (15)

His first novel, The Intuitionist, was published in January 1999 and shot Whitehead to literary stardom. Following the publishing of that novel, several of his works received recognition from notable sources:

• John Henry Days (2001): Pulitzer Prize finalist
  
• Zone One (2011): New York Times Bestseller
• The Underground Railroad (2016): Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award recipient, and a #1 New York Times Bestseller.
• The Nickel Boys (2019): Pulitzer Prize winner

A complete list of all 11 published pieces can be found here!

Colson Whitehead with this Wife,
Julie Barer (2)

Today, you can find Colson Whitehead raising his 14-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son with his wife, Julie Barer, who works as a literary agent. He has worked in countless universities as a professor, such as the University of Houston, Columbia University, New York University, and Princeton University, among many others. 

The Underground Railroad

The Underground
Railroad Cover (14)

Colson Whitehead's most famous work, The Underground Railroad, is the story of Cora, a teenager who runs away from a Georgia plantation where she and her family have been slaves for three generations. Her journey to locate her mother's whereabouts through Georgia and the underground railroad takes several unexpected twists and turns, including several life-or-death decisions she must make to survive. Unlike the mid-1800s, the underground railroad in this story is actually a train that serves the same purpose, and Whitehead takes the reader through Cora’s journey at each train stop. The first train takes Cora and a fellow slave, Caesar, to South Carolina, where they experience life as free people. Colson’s description of Cora’s adventure from Georgia to South Carolina depicts the evolution of the experience of an African American not just during slavery but throughout American history. As the story wraps up, it is revealed in an ironic turn that Cora’s mother, Mabel, never made it farther than a swamp near the Randall plantation. She was returning home to take care of Cora when she was bitten by a poisonous snake, and her body sunk into the swamp. (9)

The Underground Railroad has collected heavy praise from many notable sources:

The National Public Radio sat down with Colson Whitehead to discuss his success, most notably in The Underground Railroad, and titled their article: 

"A Literal Train To Freedom.” —National Public Radio (1)

Betsy Reed of The Guardian reviewed Whitehead's The Underground Railroad and says the following about the novel:

“Cora and Caesar are led down to a platform where rails stretch away into darkness. It’s a brilliant conceit.” —Betsy Reed of The Guardian (6)

Juan Gabriel Vásquez of the New York Times Book Review writes:

“Like its predecessors, it is carefully built and stunningly daring; it is also, both in expected and unexpected ways, dense, substantial and important..” —The New York Times Book Review (11)

The Nickel Boys

The Nickel Boys Cover (13)

Colson Whitehead’s second and most recent Pulitzer Prize winner, The Nickel Boys, is split into three parts. The novel tells the story of a man, Elwood Curtis, who attended Nickel Academy, a reform school in Florida that is now being taken down. One day, during an “environmental study,” a team of archaeologists discovers a secret graveyard on the grounds of what used to be Nickel Academy, prompting the state of Florida to reopen investigations into the countless “abuse stories” associated with the institution. Countless reports from the archeology team swirl, and the school’s alumni, known as the Nickel Boys, take to a website to post their recollections of their own stories of abuse endured at Nickel Academy. Elwood Curtis does not return to the school, as he believes there is no use in confronting his past, and so he stays in New York to keep tabs on the unfolding story. (3)

The novel depicts countless episodes of Elwood and his fellow classmates and the torture they endured. During an inspection resulting from several allegations, Elwood sees an opportunity to deliver a note containing his account of the abuse at Nickel Academy. Ultimately, the letter gets Elwood put in solitary confinement, and a plan to kill Elwood unfolds. With the help of his friend, Turner, Elwood escapes Nickel during the night and never returns. For years, Elwood believed the story of his escape served as an inspiration to the remaining boys at Nickel Academy, only to find out that the academy has suppressed his flight for freedom. During their escape, a Community Service van appears behind the two boys, and a man by the name of Harper chases them down with shotguns. Elwood is shot in the back, and Turner is forced to jump fences to escape for his life. Turner eventually returns to Florida to give his friend Elwood the proper burial that he deserves. (3)

The Nickel Boys serves as an American hit according to multiple prominent reviews:

In a 2019 interview, President Barrack Obama talked about his summer reading list, which included The Nickel Boys, saying:

"Sometimes difficult to swallow, ‘The Nickel Boys’ by Colson Whitehead is a necessary read, detailing the way Jim Crow and mass incarceration tore apart lives and wrought consequences that ripple into today.” (7)

In a 2019 article written by Parul Sehgal of the New York Times, he describes Whitehead's novel:

"The narration is disciplined and the sentences plain and sturdy, oars cutting into water. Every chapter hits its marks" —The New York Times (8) 

Publisher's Weekly Writes:  

"Whitehead's brilliant examination of America's history of violence is a stunning novel of impeccable language and startling insight." —Publishers Weekly (5)

What have I learned after researching Colson Whitehead?

After researching Colson Whitehead, I can confidently say he has gained a new fan. I was impressed that Whitehead was able to use all of the resources at his fingertips and then leverage his Harvard education to springboard his writing career. As I read summaries about his latest Pulitzer Prize winner, The Nickel Boys, I was immediately roped into Elwood’s story. I will certainly purchase this story to read and maybe use in my classroom one day. His accomplishments as a professor at many big-name universities also impressed me. He inspires many up-and-coming African American authors as they look to make a name for themselves and continue to provide new perspectives and stories of America's trying history. I recommend Colson Whitehead to anyone who enjoys reading diverse literature and is looking for compelling storytelling. 

Works Cited

1. Bianculli, David, and Terry Gross. “Colson Whitehead’s ‘Underground Railroad’ Is a Literal Train to Freedom.” NPR, NPR, 18 Nov. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/11/18/502558001/colson-whiteheads-underground-railroad-is-a-literal-train-to-freedom. 
2. “Colson Whitehead Named New York State Author.” 27 East, 4 July 2019, www.27east.com/arts/colson-whitehead-named-new-york-state-author-1330183/. 
3. Jackson, Mitchell S. “‘I Carry It Within Me.’ Novelist Colson Whitehead Reminds Us How America’s Racist History Lives On.” Time, Time, 27 June 2019,                        time.com/magazine/us/5615604/july-8th-2019-vol-194-no-2-u-s/.
4. Lannamann, Taylor. "The Nickel Boys Plot Summary." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 20 Aug 2019. Web. 12 Feb 2024.
5. Publishersweekly. “The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.” www.publishersweekly.com/9780385537070. Accessed 17 Feb. 2024. 
6. Reed, Betsy. “The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead Review – Luminous, Furious and Wildly Inventive.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Oct. 2016, www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/09/the-underground-railroad-colson-whitehead-revie-luminous-furious-wildly-inventive. 
7. Schaub, Michael. “Barack Obama’s Summer Reading List Starts with a Nod to Toni Morrison.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2019, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2019-08-16/barack-obama-reading-list-toni-morrison. 
8. Sehgal, Parul. “In ‘The Nickel Boys,’ Colson Whitehead Continues to Make a Classic American Genre His Own.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/books/review-nickel-boys-colson-whitehead.html?smid=url-share.
9. Sparknotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/underground-railroad/summary/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2024.
10. Sturm, Rüdiger. “Colson Whitehead.” The Talks, The Talks, 27 Dec. 2023, the-talks.com/interview/colson-whitehead/. 
11. Vásquez, Juan Gabriel. “In Colson Whitehead’s Latest, The Underground Railroad Is More Than a Metaphor.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Aug. 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/books/review/colson-whitehead-underground-railroad.html. 
12. Whitehead, Colson. “Bio.” Colson Whitehead, www.colsonwhitehead.com/new-page.    Accessed 9 Feb. 2024.
13. Whitehead, Colson. “The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: 9780345804341: Penguinrandomhouse.Com: Books.” PenguinRandomhouse.Com, Knopf, www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/223161/the-nickel-boys-by-colson-whitehead/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2024. 
14. Whitehead, Colson. “The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: 9780345804327: Penguinrandomhouse.Com: Books.” PenguinRandomhouse.Com, Knopf, www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/232365/the-underground-railroad-by-colson-whitehead/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2024. 
15. Zone One: Whitehead, Colson: 9780307455178: Amazon.Com: Books, www.amazon.com/Zone-One-Colson-Whitehead/dp/0307455173. Accessed 18 Feb. 2024.