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  • Writer's pictureRalph Celestin

Black History | Rise Celestial Studios Honors Ralph Waldo Ellison

Updated: Oct 20, 2022

“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.”


Oklahoma | Rise News


They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but when it comes to the Invisible man and the first time I laid eyes on it, it was truly love at first sight.

Robbins Library

It was a random day during the middle of my summer break — Circa 2005. I had grown tired of the constant repetition of playing basketball, chasing girls, videogames, sleep and repeat. I was looking forward to beginning my junior year of HS and getting back into a classroom. I always had a deep passion for learning. I just only cared to put in effort towards the classes I enjoyed, not so much towards the classes I disliked (Math!).

I was in Robbins Library grabbing my summer reading list assignments when I first laid eyes on the book Invisible Man. I was taken back by the elaborate cover and also by the name…Ralph. I had never seen my name on a book before and that little coincidence was enough for me to begin reading it…my oh my was I in for a ride and I had no clue the awakening it would cause.

Ralph Waldo Ellison rocking a stylish hat in the city.


My viewpoint on a wide range of topics touched on in that book would never be the same by the time I finished.

– CEO of Rise Celestial Studios, Ralph Celestin shares his first time judging a book by its cover and it actually working out.


Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913[a] – April 16, 1994) was an American novelist, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel Invisible Man, which won the National Book Award in 1953.[2] He also wrote Shadow and Act (1964), a collection of political, social and critical essays, and Going to the Territory(1986). For The New York Times, the best of these essays in addition to the novel put him “among the gods of America’s literary Parnassus.”[3] A posthumous novel, Juneteenth, was published after being assembled from voluminous notes he left upon his death.


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