This famous work, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, has come back in the forefront of the news because of a speech given by Michelle Obama, wife of President Barack Obama, on May 9, 2015 at Tuskegee University. Here is what she said:
"And all of that is going to be a heavy burden to carry. It can feel isolating. It can make you feel like your life somehow doesn't matter -- that you're like the Invisible Man that Tuskegee grad Ralph Ellison wrote about all those years ago. And as we've seen over the past few years, those feelings are real. They're rooted in decades of structural challenges that have made too many folks feel frustrated and invisible. And those feelings are playing out in communities like Baltimore and Ferguson and so many others across this country.