August Wilson's Home

Friends, relatives and local officials stood today before the dilapidated building where August Wilson was born to memorialize the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who used his neighborhood to chronicle the black experience in 20th century America.
The state dedicated a blue and gold state historical marker at 1727 Bedford Ave. — the home where Wilson grew up with his five brothers and sisters — to the applause of family, friends and residents of the Hill District neighborhood.

Wilson died in October 2005 at the age of 60. He is renowned for the characters he put on stage in an ambitious 10-play cycle, nine of them set in Pittsburgh, that recounted the struggle of blacks in America. He won two Pulitzers and a Tony and is best known for his plays "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson."