Richard Wright
Wright's Black Boy is the defining autobiography of the Black American experience under segregation, a record of intellectual awakening under conditions designed to prevent it. Native Son made him the first Black novelist to be taken seriously by the white American literary establishment.
Works
- Native SonNaturalistic novel depicting a Black man's descent into violence and despair in Chicago
- Black BoyMemoir of a Black man's struggles with poverty, racism, and hunger in the American South
- The OutsiderPhilosophical novel exploring an intellectual's alienation and search for meaning
- Uncle Tom's ChildrenStory collection of African American life in the segregated South during the Depression
- The Long DreamNovel set in Mississippi examining race, sexuality, and violence in Southern life
- 12 Million Black VoicesIllustrated photo-essay documenting the lives and struggles of Black Americans
- American HungerSequel to Black Boy continuing Wright's memoir of intellectual and political awakening