On 30 March, the film version of Native Son opens in Buenos Aires, where it is titled Sangre Negra. Although the original version was only 105 minutes, nearly thirty minutes are cut when the movie appears in the United States. On 16 June, the almost halved version opens in New York, where it is panned. It is banned in many states, although in 1952, Wright's family sees it in Mississippi. Wright's acting is seen as awkward, especially by American critics who remember Canada Lee's performance in the stage version. Wright helps to promote Jean Genet's Our Lady of the Flowers with New Story Magazine. James Baldwin attacks Wright in a Partisan Review article, "Many Thousands Gone," leading to a bitter break.
In February, Wright travels to England, where he completes a full version of The Outsider. Throughout the year, Wright revises the novel. His Harper editor, John Fischer, wants Wright to come to the United States for the publication of the novel, but Wright refuses, fearing possible harassment from the government. In December, Wright begins working on a novel about a white psychopathic murderer.
Wright begins correspondence with Frantz Fanon. The Outsider is published (Harper) in March, and despite initially selling well, the novel's momentum does not last. Critically, the novel receives mixed reviews. Wright and Sartre move apart as Sartre moves toward communism. Wright begins to withdraw from official organizations, although he maintains his friendships. Wright receives many of his friends at Parisian cafes such as the Monaco and Touron. He tells Ben Burns, Ebony editor, that he won't criticize the French government for fear of being deported. Collecting material for a book on Africa, Wright travels during the summer to the British colony of the Gold Coast (which becomes Ghana following independence in 1957). During the trip he meets with pro-independence leaders, as well as with tribal leaders. He logs over 3000 road miles (chauffeur driven) on the trip, during which he visits slave-trade fortresses and dungeons. Wright feels distanced from Africans, considering himself deeply connected to the Western intellectual tradition. Late in the year he begins to write about his trip and undergoes surgery for a hernia.
Wright continues to work on his book about Africa, but also decides he wants to write about Spanish society. As research, he drives a Citroen throughout Spain, logging 4000 miles from mid-August to early September. A week after his return, on 16 September, Wright renews his passport and is questioned by the American government (State Department and FBI) about his connection to the Communist party. On 22 September, Wright's book about Africa, Black Power: A Record of Reactions in a Land of Pathos, appears to mixed reviews in America but enthusiasm in France. Avon publishes in paperback the Harper- rejected Savage Holiday, Wright's novel about a white psychopathic murderer. Again, reception in France is much warmer than in America. He visits Geneva in order to do Spanish research at the United Nations library. During a lecture on Africa in Amsterdam, Wright meets his Danish translator, Margrit de Sabloniere, and the two become friends. On 8 November, Wright returns to Spain, but this time he hires a driver to drive him through the country. He stays for a time in Madrid, returning to Paris in mid-December.
Wright plans to attend a conference of non-aligned nations in Indonesia, and he receives funding from the anti-communist Congress for Cultural Freedom; 20 February, he visits Spain again, staying there until 10 April; then he goes to Indonesia. Among the world leaders at the conference are Nehru, Sukarno, Sihanouk, Nasser, and Zhou Enlai. He stays in Indonesia until 5 May. He visits Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Kenya on his way back to Europe, where he begins to write his account of the conference. He spends July through October at the family's new home in Ailly, a small village in eastern Normandy. Wright has plans to develop a series of novels around individuals and society, but he abandons it on the advice of his editors. His youngest daughter, Rachel, comes down with scarlet fever. Wright returns to their home in Paris briefly, but he cannot work there and so removes himself to Ailly. In December, a French translation of Wright's impressions of the Bandung Conference appears.