James Baldwin vs Richard Wright
Baldwin and Wright are both world-renowned best-selling authors who highlighted the plight of African-Americans in their work but the two never saw eye-to-eye on what it means to be Black in America. An article on PushBlack Now said Baldwin was against Wright’s characterization of the Black community in his famous novel “Native Son” and he even wrote an entire book of criticism called “Notes of a Native Son” against Wright’s work.
Among Baldwin’s concerns were that “Native Son” “reinforced dangerous racial stereotypes about Black people, as it degraded Blacks and made them appear subservient to whites. He argued that Wright used “these disgusting depictions of Blacks to appease his white audience and sell more books,” PushBlack Now wrote. The disagreement between the two went on till Wright’s death when Baldwin described him as one who “convinced the world that one could be black and a writer.”
