Which American author wrote 'Native Son'?

Richard Wright wrote the novel Native Son. Published in 1940, it follows Bigger Thomas, a young Black man living in poverty on Chicago’s South Side during the 1930s. The novel examines how racism, segregation, poverty, and restricted opportunity shape Bigger’s choices and sense of identity.

Wright drew on contemporary racial violence and true-crime reporting, including the case of Robert Nixon, whose trial influenced parts of the story. Native Son became a landmark of African-American literature and social-protest fiction, bringing Wright national attention. It was also selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club, reportedly its first selection by an African-American author.

Readers sometimes confuse Wright with James Baldwin, who later criticized Native Son in his essay “Everybody’s Protest Novel.” Baldwin did not write the novel; his critique is part of the book’s later literary history. Another useful distinction is that Native Son is fiction, while Wright’s Black Boy is an autobiographical memoir. The novel was adapted for Broadway in 1941, with Paul Green and Wright credited as writers and Orson Welles directing.