Native Son (1940) by Richard Wright and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe are of particular interest, as they are featured and criticized in Baldwin's essays, "Everybody's Protest Novel" and "Many Thousands Gone."
Baldwin's other works, especially Giovanni's Room (1956), Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) offer the experience of Baldwin's fiction writing, while The Fire Next Time (1963) and Remember This House (unfinished at the time of his death in 1987) provide other examples of his essays.
Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou, who were friends of Baldwin's and whose work also deals with themes of race in America, are also worth investigating.
