English 102 (Writing About Literature) Research Guide: Fences essay (August Wilson)
Use this guide to find articles about authors and their works! We also have tips for citing sources in MLA style.
Fences - video resources
- Fences - streaming videoDenzel Washington directed this version of August Wilson's play. (Requires student ID login from off campus.)
- August Wilson: Writing and the Blues (video)In this program, Wilson talks about finding an African American cultural identity.
- The Ground on Which I StandPBS special. Explore the life and legacy of August Wilson, the playwright some call America's Shakespeare, who chronicled the 20th-century black experience. (Requires student ID login for off-campus access)
Find books and ebooks
Find books by/about August Wilson in the College's online catalog
Examples:
August WilsonCall Number: PS 3573 I45677 Z565 2010(Print book)
August WilsonCall Number: PS 3573 I45677 Z96 1999(print book)- May All Your Fences Have Gates: Essays on the Drama of August Wilson(ebook requires login with student ID number if off campus)
- August Wilson's Fences(ebook requires login with student ID number if off campus)
Other resources
- MagillOnLiterature Plus This link opens in a new windowAnother literature database. Includes work analyses.
American Decades, 1950-1959Call Number: REF E 169.12 A419 1996General reference source for the 1950s in America. Includes articles on women in the 1950s.
Pittsburgh lives : men and women who shaped our cityIncludes section on Josh Gibson.
Literature Resource Center
- Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowClick Advanced search to search for the play title by choosing Name of Work in the drop-down menu.
Assigned critical essays
- "Baseball as history in myth in August Wilson's Fences"Susan Koprince
Other resources
- Overview: FencesAn extensive summary of the play.
- Overview: Fences - Literature and Its TimesA summary of the play which sets it within the historical context.
- Wilson's FencesAn analysis of the play with an emphasis on tragedy.
Subject headings
Search tip: Subject headings
Subject headings help you focus your search to a specific subject. Searching by keyword (like you do in Google) will give you results where your keyword shows up anywhere in the resource, whether it's a significant result or not. But if you search by subject, you'll know that the results you get will be more relevant.
Try some of these subject headings:
- Women -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Social conditions of women -- 20th century
- Negro Leagues -- History
- African Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- History