During the winter of 1944-1945, he met the distinguished black writer Richard Wright, who became a mentor and father figure to him. Wright also recommended him for the Eugene Saxton Fellowship that he received in 1945. ... It was the nonfiction books - Notes of a Nation Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963) - "that secured his reputation as an important American writer and social critic" (http://www.africana.com, pg. 1). ... Notes of a Native Son marked the formal entry of Baldwin into the literary tradition of the personal essay. ... Baldwin's 1949 ess...

• Word Count: 2618
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

An example of this idea would be areas similar to Compton, Harlem, and the Black Belt of Chicago which was the neighborhood of Bigger Thomas from Richard Wright's Native Son. ... Each time he asked himself that question his mind hit a blank wall and he stopped thinking" (Wright 12). ... Native Son shows a very different point of view than most readers are accustomed to which is a reason why it has been so heavily censored. ...

• Word Count: 2640
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School