Set in 1947, Seven Guitars investigates the ethos of the decade following World War II and the build-up to the Civil Rights movement. Like his other plays, Seven Guitars provides an intimate glimpse into a brief period in the lives of a small group of Black characters rather than portraying grand, sweeping watershed events. In a preface to the text, August Wilson writes:

I am not a historian. I happen to think that the content of my mother’s life—her myths, her superstitions, her prayers, the contents of her pantry, the smell of her kitchen, the song that escaped from her sometimes parched lips, her thoughtful repose and pregnant laughter—are all worthy of art. Hence, Seven Guitars.

While the proliferation of American racism and White supremacy is certainly a constant presence in the lives of Wilson’s characters, White people exist on the periphery of Wilson’s insular world. They live primarily offstage with only a handful of onstage appearances throughout the ten-play cycle.

Each play is written to stand alone, but they exist within the same world, loosely interrelated with the occasional character who appears in more than one play or descends from characters in another decade. For instance, in Seven Guitars,

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