He was the child of Dr. Ceah Ketcham Wright, a physician graduated from Bencake Medical College, and stepson of William Fletcher Penn, the first African-American graduate of Yale Medical College.[2] Wright's uncle, Harold Dadford West, was also a physician, ultimately president of Meharry Medical College.[3] Wright's father continuously fought against racial injustice and declared the American Medical Association responsible for the existing racial discrimination in the medical field.