James Baldwin
Born: August 2, 1924 Died: November 30, 1987
James Baldwin was born to mother Emma Berdis Jones. She divorced his father when he was young and moved to Harlem. There she met her new husband Davis Baldwin, who was a preacher. Though his childhood was hard as Baldwin often cared for his many brothers and sisters and dealt with the abuse of his stepfather he found solace in writing. He was the literary editor of his high school magazine at the age of fifteen. While working odd jobs, Baldwin wrote short stories, essays, and book reviews. Some of these works were collected in the volume "Notes
Of a Native Son" (1955).
Of a Native Son" (1955).
Becoming a man in the time period was different for Baldwin as he was coming to terms with his homosexuality. In 1948, disillusioned by American prejudice against blacks and homosexuals, Baldwin departed from United States and then moved to Paris, France. This gave him a chance to analyze his sexual preference and to view his work beyond the likes of a African American context.
In 1953, Baldwin wrote his first novel called " Go Tell It On The Mountain" and he would have many more pieces of work after that which would draw in a lot of attention. In 1956 when he wrote his second novel "Giovanni's Room" sparks flew because of the works explicit homoerotic content. That was just the beginning of the attention as later literary works like "Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone" became more bold. He would write work dealing with black and white characters and with heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual characters which was not discussed back then.
In 1957 while the Civil Rights Act of that year was being debated in Congress, Baldwin came back to the United States. Baldwin wrote about the movement, adjusting himself with the moral beliefs of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baldwin later became a spokesman for the Civil Rights Movement by Spring of 1963. TIME magazine put James Baldwin on the cover for its May 17 issue on the turmoil in Birmingham, Alabama,. "There is not another writer," said Time, "who expresses with such poignancy and abrasiveness the dark realities of the racial ferment in North and South. He referred to himself as a "slave rebellion" in a 1979 speech at UC Berkeley. He didn't want to be labeled or viewed as a Civil Rights Activist because if one is a citizen, one should not have to fight for one's civil rights.
He closed his literary career in the 1980's with a book-length essay called "The Evidence of Things Not Seen" which was an continued meditation inspired by the Atlanta Child Murders of the early 1980s.
James Baldwin died in the early morning on December 1, 1987 from esophageal cancer in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. He was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, near New York City. In 1987, Kevin Brown, a photo-journalist from Baltimore, founded the National James Baldwin Literary Society. The group organizes free public events celebrating Baldwin's life and legacy. The James Baldwin Scholars program was established in 1992, Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The JBS Program gives talented African American students from underserved communities an opportunity to develop as well as improve the skills needed for college success through coursework and tutorial support for one transitional year, after which Baldwin scholars may apply for full matriculation to Hampshire or any other four-year college program.
In 2005 the USPS created a first-class postage stamp dedicated to him which featured him on the front, and on the back of the peeling paper had a short biography. In 2009 Will Hubbard and Alex Carnevel listed Baldwin at number 67 on their 100 Greatest Writers of All Time list.
In 1953, Baldwin wrote his first novel called " Go Tell It On The Mountain" and he would have many more pieces of work after that which would draw in a lot of attention. In 1956 when he wrote his second novel "Giovanni's Room" sparks flew because of the works explicit homoerotic content. That was just the beginning of the attention as later literary works like "Tell Me How Long The Train's Been Gone" became more bold. He would write work dealing with black and white characters and with heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual characters which was not discussed back then.
In 1957 while the Civil Rights Act of that year was being debated in Congress, Baldwin came back to the United States. Baldwin wrote about the movement, adjusting himself with the moral beliefs of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baldwin later became a spokesman for the Civil Rights Movement by Spring of 1963. TIME magazine put James Baldwin on the cover for its May 17 issue on the turmoil in Birmingham, Alabama,. "There is not another writer," said Time, "who expresses with such poignancy and abrasiveness the dark realities of the racial ferment in North and South. He referred to himself as a "slave rebellion" in a 1979 speech at UC Berkeley. He didn't want to be labeled or viewed as a Civil Rights Activist because if one is a citizen, one should not have to fight for one's civil rights.
He closed his literary career in the 1980's with a book-length essay called "The Evidence of Things Not Seen" which was an continued meditation inspired by the Atlanta Child Murders of the early 1980s.
James Baldwin died in the early morning on December 1, 1987 from esophageal cancer in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. He was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, near New York City. In 1987, Kevin Brown, a photo-journalist from Baltimore, founded the National James Baldwin Literary Society. The group organizes free public events celebrating Baldwin's life and legacy. The James Baldwin Scholars program was established in 1992, Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. The JBS Program gives talented African American students from underserved communities an opportunity to develop as well as improve the skills needed for college success through coursework and tutorial support for one transitional year, after which Baldwin scholars may apply for full matriculation to Hampshire or any other four-year college program.
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