Portrait of Colson Whitehead

Birthday profile

Colson Whitehead

Colson Whitehead, American author

Born
November 6, 1969
Age in 2026
57
Zodiac sign
Scorpio
Birth year
1969

About Colson Whitehead

Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice. He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2017, the novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Colson Whitehead timeline

  1. In 2017, the novel was awarded the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction at the American Library Association Mid-Winter Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
  2. The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The world when Colson Whitehead was born

Colson Whitehead was born in 1969. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1969

  • #1 song"Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies
  • Top movieMidnight Cowboy
  • Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Best-selling bookThe Godfather – Mario Puzo

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentNew York Mets "Miracle Mets" win the World Series
  • Top headlineNeil Armstrong walks on the Moon: "One small step for man"
  • Technology milestoneApollo 11 — first humans walk on the Moon
  • Defining fadWoodstock festival
  • Notable inventionARPANET (precursor to the internet)
  • World population3.63 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population202.7M

1969 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Colson Whitehead's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19692026
Gas$0.35$3.45/gal
Average home$16,400$435,000
Average income$10,900$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.42$11.95
Postage stamp$0.06$0.73
Population202.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.