"A formidable and lasting contribution to American literature." – Chicago Tribune
"I found these stories both heartening, as evidence of a vigorous new talent, and terrifying as the expression of a racial hatred that has never ceased to grow and gets no chance to die." – Malcolm Cowley, The New Republic
"These stories burn like a house afire. They sing as well as sear; and what they have to say is as startling as a race riot." – Lewis Gannett
"In violating the unspoken agreement regarding what could or could not be uttered about race relations in this country, Wright brought to bear both the rhetorical force of leftist polemic and the imaginative energy and cultural richness of Afro-American folklore with a power and a coherence that he may never have again achieved." – Richard Yarborough, from the Introduction of Uncle Tom's Children
"The Library of America has insured that most of Wright's major texts are now available as he wanted them to be read." – Alfred Kazin, New York Times Book Review
"We have an opportunity to assess Wright's formidable and lasting contribution to American literature .. . . They have returned to the 1940 second printing of Uncle Tom's Children which included one additional story, 'Bright and Morning Star, ' and 'The Ethics of Jim Crow, ' thus offering us all the selections Wright wished the collection to have." – Charles Johnson, Chicago Tribune