Notes from a Young Black Chef

In 1955, writer and journalist James Baldwin published a book of essays titled Notes of a Native Son. The title of Baldwin’s work was a direct response to Richard Wright’s 1940 novel Native Son. Wright’s book shares the experiences of a poor Black youth living in Chicago’s South Side named Bigger Thomas. Native Son revealed the destructive power of systemic racism and generational poverty, and it shook the literary world. Wright’s work was a daring one for 1940; it illuminated the way systemic racism had benefited white Americans while oppressing Black Americans. Baldwin acknowledged the novel’s influence, saying of Native Son, “[N]o American Negro exists who does not have his private Bigger Thomas in his skull” (Baldwin, James. Notes of a Native Son. Beacon Press, 1984). However, Baldwin also criticized Wright’s work for depicting Black characters as caricatures and for attempting to elicit sympathy from white readers rather than condemning their role in the system of American racism.

Both Wright’s and Baldwin’s books connect to Kwame Onwuachi’s journey and memoir. Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son is an indictment of racial discrimination. In the work, Baldwin explores many themes and ideas that also feature in Onwuachi’s Notes From a Young Black Chef.