Centennial Editions
Centennial Editions celebrate our legacy: books we discovered early, believed in deeply, and still stand by. Read them, re-read them, collect them.
A 1940 Selection.
Centennial Editions
Native Son
by Richard Wright
About the author
Richard Wright was born near Roxie, Mississippi, in 1908. He won international acclaim for his powerful and visceral depictions of the Black experience. The author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, he stands today as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century. Native Son and his autobiography, Black Boy, are required reading in many high schools and colleges across the nation. He died in Paris, France, in 1960.
Cultural history: 1940 to now
Hollywood’s racial restrictions meant that the 1951 film adaptation of Native Son was shot in Argentina with a predominantly American cast. When lead actor Canada Lee dropped out of the production due to last minute-scheduling difficulties, author Richard Wright himself stepped in to play protagonist Bigger Thomas.
In 2019, indie film studio A24 transformed and modernized the novel in a new adaptation, which featured a green-haired, leather-jacketed Bigger working as a chauffeur in contemporary Chicago.
As one of the first American bestsellers written by a Black author, Native Son challenged readers across the nation with its bold perspective on race, class, and politics. A classic “protest novel,” it drew widespread attention to the societal injustices of life in 1930s Chicago.
Today, despite being widely regarded as a literary classic, Native Son remains a banned title in many prisons and schools across America.
Native Son’s Broadway adaptation was fraught with tension. The collaboration between author Richard Wright and playwright Paul Green quickly devolved into an ideological gridlock: Green wanted to tell the story as a sentimental tragedy with a redemptive ending, undercutting Wright’s focus on societal dysfunction.
Despite Wright’s inexperience as a playwright, producers Orson Welles and John Houseman supported his vision for the final script. The resulting play was a dark and thought-provoking critical hit and featured one of the first interracial kisses on a Broadway stage.
Synopsis
Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young Black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic.
Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and f...
Content warning
Read a sample
Centennial Editions
