Chester Himes was not “supposed” to be in prison. He’d come from a well-to-do family. What went wrong?
Himes had been an unhappy child, especially after an accident blinded his brother and racist hospitals refused to help. At home, his parents’ violent fights about why his father was “too dark-skinned to be successful” rang in his ears.
He found a job – but things took a turn for the worse.
He fell down an elevator shaft, after dealing with racist white coworkers who hated that he worked there in the first place!
Himes was put on disability payments and enrolled at Ohio State with the money – but was expelled after pulling a prank. With no degree and an unhappy home life, he turned to the streets.
His activities escalated until he was captured, beaten by police until he confessed to a robbery, and sentenced to 25 years.
Desperate to express his struggle, he wrote about pain, violence, and self-hate among Black people, without flinching. And then, finally, something good happened.
He was freed early! And his books found great success, with his novels defining the crime fiction genre, largely because they told the truth about Black experiences! Like Himes, we must tell our stories authentically – no one else is going to.