William Gardner Smith ( February 6 , 1927 – November 5 , 1974 ) was an American journalist , novelist , and editor . Smith is linked to the black social protest novel tradition of the 1940s and the 1950s , a movement that became synonymous with writers such as Richard Wright , Ralph Ellison , Willard Motley , and Ann Petry . Smith 's third book , '' South Street '' ( 1954 ) , is considered to be one of the first black militant protest novels . His last published novel , '' The Stone Face '' ( 1963 ) , in its account of the Paris massacre of 1961 , " stand s as one of the few representations of the event available all the way up until the early 1990s "
Paris massacre of 1961
Paris massacre of 1961
William Gardner Smith