author
Jack Thorne
b. 1863
A journalist, poet, and novelist writing under the pen name Jack Thorne, he used fiction and commentary to speak plainly about Black life and injustice in the years after Reconstruction. His work blends sharp social criticism with a storyteller’s feel for character and everyday struggle.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1863 and raised in Wilmington, David Bryant Fulton became known to readers as Jack Thorne. He moved to New York in 1887 and worked as a Pullman porter, an experience that informed much of his writing about labor, race, and opportunity.
Fulton wrote journalism, poetry, and fiction, including Hanover; or, The Persecution of the Lowly and Eagle Clippings. His work focused on the lives and ambitions of African Americans and on the violence and discrimination they faced, making him an important voice in early Black literary and political writing.
Though not as widely known today as some of his contemporaries, Jack Thorne left behind a body of work that is direct, engaged, and historically revealing. Readers interested in African American history, social protest writing, and overlooked literary voices will find a great deal to discover in his books.