This is the project that the August Wilson House received a grant award. The project created with the University of Pittsburg’s Hill District Community Engagement Center (CEC), to honor the legacy of master storyteller and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.
This project will encourage Hill District residents to be storytellers and collect oral history as a vehicle for cultural preservation. August Wilson believed that stories of ordinary people – particularly African Americans had a value and were of cultural and historical significance that were worthy of sharing.
The Hill district that Wilson was born into was multi-ethnic bustling with Jewish, Italian and Black cultures 
while once vibrant, over the years began to decline, ravaged by economic distress, municipal neglect and the absence of recreational opportunities. As one of America’s greatest playwrights and scholars, Wilson’s major influence in the House on the Hill was both a source and inspiration for his epic 10-play dramatization of African American life in the 20th century. Participants will learn the basic tools of how to record, write and document their history to share with generations to come. 
www.augustwilsonhouse.org
