Community Reads: Native Son

Following a screening of Native Son (1951), explore the film’s themes through dinner and discussion. As you reflect on the film, you will be able to connect with neighbors and friends through intimate guided breakout discussions. 

This portion of our program will also launch the next Community Reads Book Club series selection, Richard Wright’s Native Son.

August 14, 2025 | Penthouse, The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637) | 7:30pm Dinner and Facilitated Conversation

ABOUT NATIVE SON

Set in 1940s Chicago, the film follows Bigger Thomas, a poor, young Black man living in a cramped tenement on the South Side with his family. He secures a job as a chauffeur for the wealthy, white Dalton family, who are portrayed as “liberal” but also somewhat condescending in their approach to race relations.

Unlike previous works written during this time period that often depicted Black characters in more palatable or stereotypical ways, Native Son presented a raw, brutal, and psychologically complex portrait of Bigger Thomas and how he was driven to violence by the oppressive forces of racism and poverty. Richard Wright argued that Bigger was not inherently evil, but rather a product of the dehumanizing environment created by white supremacy.

WARD AND WRIGHT’S FRIENDSHIP

Theodore Ward and Richard Wright, author of the indelible novel Native Son, shared a close relationship, particularly during their time in Chicago. They were both prominent figures in the vibrant intellectual and artistic community of Chicago’s South Side in the 1930s. Their friendship led Ward to join the South Side Writers Group, a significant gathering place for Black writers in Chicago, where they collaborated and discussed their literary endeavors alongside other notable writers like Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Margaret Walker.

They were co-founders of the Negro Playwrights Company in New York, a testament to their shared vision for a theatrical space dedicated to Black voices and stories. Wright also wrote an essay on Ward’s Big White Fog, praising its unique and dignified portrayal of an oppressed people’s struggles. Both Ward and Wright were deeply concerned with the realities of racial injustice and economic hardship faced by Black Americans. Their works often explored parallel themes of struggle, identity, and the search for social and economic equality, often with a shared affinity for Marxist thought in their early careers.

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