Nathan Wright was an Episcopal minister and a scholar. A prominent advocate of Black power, Wright shared the ideology of Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He both participated in and chronicled the first Freedom Ride. Wright served as chairman at the National Conference on Black Power in Newark, New Jersey in 1967, a pivotal meeting where the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement shifted from the demand for individual rights toward demands for group rights.

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1923, Wright earned a Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Arts from Episcopal Theological School in 1950. After his ordination, he fulfilled his parish ministry in a variety of capacities, including serving as associate pastor at Christ Church in Riverdale, New York from 1999 until his death in 2005. He held diocesan and church-wide positions within The Episcopal Church which included six years' service as an Associate in the Office of Stewardship. From 1964 to 1969, Wright served as Executive Director of the Department of Urban Work in the Diocese of Newark. A lifelong Republican and an avid supporter of Presidents Nixon and Reagan, he was highly educated and earned six degrees, among them a doctorate of education from Harvard.

Wright was the author of 18 books, including Black Power and Urban Unrest, 1967; Ready to Riot, 1968; Let’s Work Together, 1968; and Let’s Face Racism, 1970. For over fifty years, he expounded on stewardship and social justice issues in his sermons, lectures, and writing.

Wright’s papers are located at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.