native son

¹ American  

noun

1. a person born in a particular place.

   The delegation from Iowa nominated a native son.

---

Native Son ² American  

noun

1. a novel (1940) by Richard Wright.

---

Native Son Cultural  

1. (1940) A novel by African-American author Richard Wright about a young black man whose life is destroyed by poverty and racism.

---

Etymology

Origin of native son

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

In Puerto Rico, a US territory since 1898, there was nothing but pride for the island's native son.

From Barron's

The 44-year-old mayor, married with two young children, spoke in his third-floor office of Minneapolis’ granite City Hall whose entrance features a statue of native son and liberal champion Hubert Humphrey.

From The Wall Street Journal

Greenberg, a native son of Long Island, encoded his social observations about the frenzied real estate hierarchy in comic language that rarely if ever missed its mark.

From Los Angeles Times

The freedom to engage with books like Richard Wright’s “Native Son,” Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and Nathan McCall’s “Manchild in the Promised Land.” offered a connection to our personal stories and collective histories while augmenting our official instruction which emphasized the histories and accomplishments of white men.

From Salon

And the great James Baldwin in his classic 1955 analysis of race in America, Notes of a Native Son, wrote:

From Salon