Native Son (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. Thomas kills a white woman at a time when racism is at its peak and he pays the price for it. No. 1 on The New York Times Fiction best seller list for 1 week, from the issue of March 18, 1940. Wiki link