1908-1960. US novelist. He was one of the
first to depict the condition of black people
in 20th-century US society with Native Son
1940 and the autobiography Black Boy 1945.
Between 1932 and 1944 he was active in the
Communist party. Shortly thereafter he became
a permanent expatriate in Paris. His other
works include White Man, Listen! 1957,
originally a series of lectures.