Morse-Amoco Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of African American & African Studies and English at the University of Minnesota. Born in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, Wright earned degrees in three different fields from the University: his Ph.D. (American Studies /History of African Peoples, 1977), M.A., (English & American Literature, 1971), and B.E.E. (Electrical Engineering, 1968). Before leaving in 1973 to build a program in Afro-American & African Studies at Carleton College, he participated in the student movement that helped found both the University’s Department of Afro-American & African Studies and its Martin Luther King Program, which he subsequently administered for three years. After returning to the University in 1984, he chaired the AFRO Department, spearheaded the acquisition of the Archie Givens Collection of African American Literature & Life, and served on the CLA faculty for thirty-five years before retiring in 2019.