Uncle Tom’s Children

by Richard Wright

A powerful, fully updated collection of novellas by the renowned author of Native Son featuring a vivid cast of characters from the post-slavery era

Set in the American Deep South, each of the powerful novellas collected here concerns an aspect of the lives of black people in the post-slavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Published in 1938, this was the first book from Wright, who would continue on to worldwide fame as the author of the novels Native Son and Black Boy.

This edition includes material that was left out of the original. Alfred Kazin said, “The Library of America has insured that most of Wright’s major texts are now available as he wanted them to be read.” In addition to the four novellas originally published— “Big Boy Leaves Home,” “Down by the Riverside,” “Long Black Song,” and “Fire and Cloud”—this edition includes a nonfiction essay, “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow,” and a short story, “Bright and Morning Star.”

Paperback | 336 pages | HarperCollins| 2023