- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWillard Francis Motley
- Nickname
- Little Iron Man
- Born Willard Francis Motley, he grew up in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago. In 1942, Motley came to the Maxwell-Halstead Street area of Chicago and drew heavily on his experiences and the people he met there for his two best know novels, "Knock On Any Door" and the sequel "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"... both were made into major motion pictures. Motley's writing is significant for the manner in which he confronts social issues and the inner-urban plight of Chicago during the 1930s and 1940s. Motley moved to Mexico where he died in 1965. In 1967 he was voted one of the "Ten Most Noted Negro Writers in America."
- IMDb mini biography by: Buxx572@aol.com
- During the 1930s, Motley rode a bicycle from Chicago to New York City.
- One of Motley's first writing assignments, as a teenager, under the pen name "Bud Billiken" was for the African American newspaper The Chicago Defender. Since 1929 Chicago hosts the annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic on the second Saturday of August in honor of Motley.
- Archibald John Motley, Jr., the painter, was his uncle. Archibald John Motley III, the (late) archivist at the Chicago Historical Society, was his cousin.
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