Ralph Ellison and Invisible Man
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Ralph Ellison and Invisible Man
Ralph Waldo Ellison was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Lewis Ellison, his father, named his son after the famous American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Lewis was a vendor of ice and coal, and died accidentally. Ellison's mother, Ida Ellison, supported herself and her children by working as a domestic. Ida, whom close friends called "Brownie," believed in Socialism and was arrested several times for violating the segregation orders. While growing up, Ellison began performing on the trumpet during high school years. Among his friends were the blues singer Jimmy Rushing and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. With the help of a music scholarship, Ellison studied at the Tuskegee Institute in Macon County, Alabama (1933-1936). However, the atmosphere in Tuskegee was conservative and jazz was considered primitive. Ellison dropped out to pursue a career in the visual arts...