Notes of a Native Son is a collection of ten essays by James Baldwin, published in 1955, mostly tackling issues of race in America and Europe.

Baldwin castigates Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin for being too sentimental, and for depicting black slaves as praying to a white God so as to be cleansed and whitened.

He suggests that the same sentimentality can be found in contemporary American protest literature; while he sympathizes with their intentions, he argues that these novels are unable to accurately portray the complex lives of black people, and that they in fact perpetuate racism.

He proceeds to repudiate Richard Wright's Native Son for portraying Bigger Thomas as an angry black man, viewing this as an example of stigmatizing categorization.

Baldwin continues his sharp critique of Richard Wright's Native Son, citing its main character Bigger Thomas as unrealistic, unsympathetic and stereotypical.

Later he worked in New Jersey and was often turned down in segregated places—Baldwin recalls a time he hurled a cup half full of water at a waitress in a diner only to realize his actions could have dire consequences.