A dedication ceremony for a segment of west Mississippi highway to be named for writer Richard Wright has been set for Feb. 23.

A part of U.S. 84 in Adams County will be named the Richard Wright Memorial Highway.

The internationally known author of “Native Son” was born 100 years ago near Natchez. He was the son of a sharecropper and country school teacher.

Wright lived in Jackson, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., Chicago and New York before moving to Paris, where he died in 1960.

He was the author of more than a dozen works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

The ceremony will kick off a year’s worth of activities honoring the author. “Richard Wright, the South, and the World: A Centennial Celebration” will include a series of international conferences and programs.