Writings of James Baldwin
Jun 16, 2002
From the library of DeWitt Clinton High School, where James Baldwin attended school, guests examined racism in America and the rise of the civil rights movement through the life and writings of social critic James Baldwin. Dr. Kelley is an authority on the history of the civil rights movement. Dr. Leeming, a close personal friend of James .. Read More
From the library of DeWitt Clinton High School, where James Baldwin attended school, guests examined racism in America and the rise of the civil rights movement through the life and writings of social critic James Baldwin. Dr. Kelley is an authority on the history of the civil rights movement. Dr. Leeming, a close personal friend of James Baldwin, published James Baldwin: A Biography in 1994. Dr. Washington talked about the social and political forces that shaped Baldwin and other black writers in his book The Ideologies of African American Literature. During the period between 1955 and 1965, individuals and civil rights organizations challenged segregation and discrimination with a variety of activities, including protest marches, boycotts, and refusal to abide by segregation laws. Baldwin was continually conscious of the hypocrisies and injustices in the world around him and, as a writer, made his readers aware of the state of American race relations. Baldwin's The Fire Next Time is considered one of the most influential books on the subject. ~ The book consists of two essays: one is in the form of a letter urging his nephew not to base his sense of self-worth on his acceptance to society. The other traces Baldwin's personal history from his career as a junior minister to Italian and Jewish cultures in his high school years. He also analyzes the Nation of Islam movement. James Baldwin, the eldest of nine children, was born in Harlem in New York City, on August 2, 1924. His father was a preacher, and as a teenager he was active in a small revivalist church. After graduating from high school he worked in a series of menial jobs. In 1948 Baldwin moved to Paris where he joined a group of black writers and artists that included Chester Himes, Richard Wright and Ollie Harrington. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), concerned a young boy coming to terms with the religious beliefs of his father. His second novel, Giovanni's Room(1956), is an account of an American living in Paris. In 1957 Baldwin returned to the United States where he became involved in the struggle for civil rights. His next three books concerned the issue of racism: a book of essays, Nobody Knows My Name (1961), a novel, Another Country (1962), and a book on the Black Muslim separatist movement, The Fire Next Time (1963). He followed this with a play about racist oppression, Blues for Mister Charlie (1964). Other books by Baldwin include Going to Meet the Man (1965), Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone (1968), If Beadle Street Could Talk (1974) and Just Above My Head (1979). James Baldwin, who published a collection of autobiographical writings, The Price of the Ticket, in 1985, died in Saint-Paul, France in December, 1987.
