Rick Brag: Essay

True Southern pride is a great way to describe a man like Richard Bragg. He has all the Southern charms and outlooks on life. Richard Bragg writes emotionally-moving literature that changes the lives of everyday people. Richard Bragg’s writing generally deals with the lower class Americans. This is a reflection of his life, for he grew up as a lower class American during the Civil Rights Era. Born in rural Alabama on July 26, 1959, he was the first of his family to graduate from high school. Richard Bragg is still alive today and is currently a professor at Alabama University (Kingsbury).

Richard Bragg is known as one of the best southern story tellers of his time. Many wonder how he developed this ability, and when asked he said, “Well, I come from a long line of liars and story tellers. ” (“Rick” 2) Richard Bragg credits his way of telling a story to his father, grandfather, and all the drunks that he liked to hang out with. (“Author”) Bragg would sat on his front porch for hours and listened to these men speak. Although he listened to all these drunks tell of drama, comedy, and tragedy, Bragg tends to have a more feminine way of writing.

He got this from his mother and sisters who “tell gentler stories about babies born, funerals that were ‘beautiful,’ and the nicer, sadder, sweeter side of growing up in rural Alabama in the 1960s and 1970s. ” (“Rick” 3) Richard Bragg generally writes about the lower class American. He grew up as a lower class citizen. He likes to reach out to these people and make people aware of poverty all over the world. In his story All Over but the Shoutin’, and in this book he shows the darker side of poverty and his life(Abbe). This book gives the inside look of what it was like growing up in poverty during the 60s and 70s.

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Richard Bragg’s home life was not one of a loving family. His father left frequently all through his life, and officially left when Bragg was just 10. He did have a caring mother who did everything for her family. She worked in the cotton fields with “poor blacks and white trash who had no other skills and no other possibilities. ” (“Rick” 3) Brag latter paid tribute to her through his book All Over but the Shoutin’. Richard Bragg grew up during the Civil Rights period. Bragg’s father once moved his family to a white house in Anniston, Alabama, that was once the ain house on a plantation. Bragg had never seen a black person really until he moved there. All the black people lived about a mile up the road. At first they threw rocks at each other. It was an onward battle until one day they got curious and started asking each other question about how different both races were “but it seems now that our innocent questions about our differences were kind of nice, kind of sweet. ” (“Rick” 7) Richard Bragg is still writing today. He writes from his little office at the University of Alabama. Who knows what he will write about next?

One thing is for sure we all know that it will make an emotional impact and that it will change how people view certain topics.

Works Citied

1. Page Abbe, Elfrieda. "Rick Bragg on the art of storytelling. " 115. 12 n. page. Web. 28 Sep. 2012.
2. "Author Information: Rick Bragg. " This Goodly Land . (Apr 30, 2009): n. page. Web. 28 Sep. 2012.
3. Etlinger, Marion. "Rick Bragg Biography. " Book Browse. 01 08 2010: n. page. Web. 28 Sep. 2012.
4. Kingsbury, Pam. "Rick Bragg Biography. " Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama: 2008. Web. 28 Sep 2012.
5. "Rick Bragg Biography. " UFDC Images n. pag. Alabama Virtual Library. Web. 28 Sep 2012.

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