(1908-60), black writer and social critic. Wright gained a reputation for artistic excellence and outspoken criticism of social injustice and the plight of blacks. His first novel, Native Son (1940), portrays a black Chicago youth victimized and enraged by whites. Wright's other works include his autobiographical Black Boy (1945) and its sequel American Hunger (1977), and White Man, Listen! (1957). He inspired other black writers including
James Baldwin and
Ralph Ellison.
