Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
After publishing Uncle Tom's Children in 1938, author Richard Wright was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939. This fellowship helped him finish writing Native Son, which was published the following year. (Source)
Native Son became the first best-selling novel written by a Black American. It sold about 215,000 copies in the first three weeks of publication. Pretty impressive, if you asked us. (Source)