Conroy, Jack

Jack Conroy, byname of John Wesley Conroy, pseudonym Tim Brennan, or John Norcross, (born December 5, 1899, near Moberly, Missouri, U.S.—died February 28, 1990, Moberly, Missouri), leftist American writer best known for his contributions to “proletarian literature,” fiction and nonfiction about the life of American workers during the early decades of the 20th century.

The Anvil

Conroy, who was born in a coal camp, was a migratory worker in the 1920s. He first became known in 1933 with his critically acclaimed novel The Disinherited. This largely autobiographical book depicts the coming of age of a coal miner’s son during the Great Depression. From 1931 to 1941 Conroy edited successively the magazines Rebel Poet, Anvil, and New Anvil. He included works by Erskine Caldwell, Langston Hughes, and William Carlos Williams, among others. Conroy later edited, with Curt Johnson, a collection of these pieces, Writers in Revolt: The Anvil Anthology (1973).

In 1938 Conroy moved to Chicago and, at Nelson Algren’s suggestion, began to work on the Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. With Arna Bontemps, Conroy wrote a children’s book, The Fast-Sooner Hound (1942), and They Seek a City (1945), a history of black migration and settlement with biographical data on important black figures. A revised and expanded version of the latter book, Anyplace But Here (1966), added background on contemporary events such as the Watts riots.

Conroy also cowrote other children’s books, lectured on folklore, taught creative writing, edited folklore collections, and edited various encyclopaedias. In 1966 he retired to his hometown. A collection of his works entitled The Jack Conroy Reader was published in 1980.