NATCHEZ — Natchez’s own “native son,” the widely-known author, Richard Wright, will be honored at a free public symposium in Natchez on Saturday.

The event is scheduled during the month of Wright’s birth near Natchez on Sept. 4, 1908.

Featured speaker is the renowned Richard Wright scholar, Dr. Jerry W. Ward Jr., professor of English and African World Studies at Dillard University, New Orleans.

Ward, who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Virginia, served as co-editor of the brand-new Richard Wright Encyclopedia; was founding member of the Richard Wright Circle; and for years portrayed Richard Wright in the Mississippi Humanities Council’s Mississippi Chautauqua Writers series.

Also on the program is Mark LaFrancis, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez, who will present a new documentary film, “Richard Wright: A Force for Right.” The film was researched and produced by LaFrancis and a group of Co-Lin film studies students during 2007-08.

In addition, Charles Wright of Natchez, the Wright family historian, will present an original PowerPoint program, “The Richard Wright Ramble,” which features sites in Southwest Mississippi associated with the author and his family.

The event will be at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 S. Commerce St. from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

“We felt it very appropriate to have a special event in Natchez during September of this year, Richard Wright’s centennial year,” said Carolyn Vance Smith of Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Natchez.

Smith is founder of the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, a conference that featured Richard Wright and his works at its 19th annual event in February 2008.

“Richard Wright’s works are now included in school and college anthologies, and hundreds of thousands of people around the world know and respect his writings,” Smith said. “Natchez and Southwest Mississippi were very influential in shaping Wright’s formative years.”

Wright is famous for more than a dozen books, including such national bestsellers as “Native Son” and “Black Boy.” A novelist, poet, screenplay writer, and essayist, Wright was also intensely interested in drama, film acting and music.

Wright moved from the South to Chicago and later to New York prior to moving to Paris, France, where he died in 1960.

Numerous Wright relatives still live in the Natchez area, including Richard Wright’s cousin, Charles Wright, who has spent several years researching the family history and genealogy. His PowerPoint program was originated for the 2008 NLCC and was presented prior to a guided tour of Southwest Mississippi sites associated with the Wright family.

Co-sponsors of the symposium are Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Historic Natchez Foundation, Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro-American Culture and Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.

The program is presented in association with Road Scholar, Inc., of Boston, and Carolyn Vance Smith of Co-Lin, founder/co-chairman of the NLCC and president of Educational Travel Associates, Inc.

Each year ETA sponsors week-long Road Scholar programs in Natchez. Several members of Road Scholar from across the country will be in Natchez Sept. 23-28 and will attend the Richard Wright event.

Presiding at the symposium will be Darrell S. White, director of NAPAC. During the mid-morning break on Saturday, NAPAC will serve refreshments.