Uncle Tom's Children (p.S.) [Paperback]

I found these stories both heartening. . . and terrifying as the expression of a racial hatred that has never ceased to grow and gets no chance to die. —Malcolm Cowley, The New Republic

Richard Wright's powerful collection of novellas set in the American Deep South

Each of the poignant and devastating stories in Uncle Tom's Children concerns an aspect of the lives of Black people in the post-slavery era, exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. This extraordinary collection also includes a personal essay by Wright titled The Ethics of Living Jim Crow.

Originally published in 1938, Uncle Tom's Children was the first book from Wright, who would go on to win international renown for his powerful and visceral depiction of the Black experience. The author of numerous works, most notably the acclaimed novel Native Son and his stunning autobiography, Black Boy, Wright stands today as one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century.

“Taking for its characters Negro men and women at bay in the oppressive Southern environment, the book represents one of the few instances in which an American Negro writer has successfully delineated the universals embodied in Negro experience.” -Ralph Ellison

“The Library of America has insured that most of Wright’s major texts are now available as he wanted them to be read.” -Alfred Kazin, New York Times Book Review

“We have an opportunity to assess Wright’s formidable and lasting contribution to American literature .. . . They have returned to the 1940 second printing ofUncle Tom’s Childrenwhich included one additional story, ‘Bright and Morning Star,’ and ‘The Ethics of Jim Crow,’ thus offering us all the select