1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. James Baldwin was born August second, nineteen twenty four, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: or one hundred and one years ago today, on the 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 1: day this episode is coming out, so he is Today's 4 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: Saturday classic. This episode originally came out on June seventeenth, 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: twenty twenty, so we recorded it in the immediate aftermath 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: of the murder of George Floyd. That may Baldwin's writing 7 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: and work felt deeply relevant in that moment, and that 8 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: continues to be true today. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 9 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. 11 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: The last thing we recorded before I got to work 12 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: on today's episode was our June fifth behind the Scenes, 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: and if you've listened to that, I was clearly having 14 00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: a hard time figuring out what to do next, and 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: when I remembered that I'd had James Baldwin on my 16 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: list for a while. But my inward response was like, yes, obviously, 17 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: James Baldwin. Of course, why didn't you even think of 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: this before? This description by Jan Williams in a piece 19 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 1: called Baldwin the Witness's testament, which was published in The 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: Washington Post the day after Baldwin's death in nineteen eighty seven, 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: illustrates why I had that response quote. Given the messy 22 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: nature of racial hatred, of the half truths, blasphemies, and 23 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: lies that make up American life, Baldwin's accuracy in reproducing 24 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: that world stands as a remarkable achievement. His accuracy was 25 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: key and his works the reader could resonate to the 26 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: sounds of the street Corner as drawn by Baldwin, could 27 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: feel the anger of Black Americans so long denied a 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: role in American life. As Baldwin wrote about that anger, 29 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: black people reading Baldwin knew he wrote the truth. White 30 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: people reading Baldwin sensed his truth about the lives of 31 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: black people in this of a racist nation. Interest in 32 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: James Baldwin's work has just really grown in the United 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: States over the last several years, in conjunction with the 34 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,359 Speaker 1: Black Lives Matter movement. His nineteen sixty three book The 35 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,280 Speaker 1: Fire Next Time is frequently on anti racism reading lists. 36 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:19,959 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's paired up with Tana Hasse Coats Between the 37 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: World and Me, which was inspired by it, or with 38 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,920 Speaker 1: The Fire This Time a New Generation Speaks about Race. 39 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: That's a book that came out in twenty sixteen. Basically, 40 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: James Baldwin was a brilliant essayist and one of the 41 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 1: chroniclers of the civil rights movement and a really powerful 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: voice against racism. And that is why we are talking 43 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: about him today. So we're going to start with his background. 44 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,040 Speaker 1: James Baldwin was born James Arthur Jones in Harlem, New York, 45 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: on August second, nineteen twenty four. His mother was Emma 46 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: Burtist Jones, and she was a domestic worker when James 47 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,679 Speaker 1: was born. Emma was not married and she never told 48 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: him who his biological father was. When James was three, 49 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: his mother married David Baldie, who was a factory worker 50 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:04,360 Speaker 1: and an evangelical minister, and they went on to have 51 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:08,079 Speaker 1: eight children together. The family was really poor. They were 52 00:03:08,120 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: living in a part of Harlem that Baldwin later called 53 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: Junkie's Hollow, and part of James's early years also took 54 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: place during the Great Depression. David Baldwin was strict, unyielding, authoritarian, 55 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: and cruel, including telling James that he was ugly and 56 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: reminding him of the circumstances of his birth, and of 57 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: course that was heavily stigmatized at the time. As an adult, 58 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: Baldwin described the whole household constantly working to appease his stepfather. 59 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,200 Speaker 1: James also said David taught him to fight because he 60 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: had to continually fight back with patience and a kind 61 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: of ruthless determination, because I had to endure it, to 62 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: go under and come back up to wait. James Baldwin 63 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,240 Speaker 1: attributed his stepfather's treatment of him and his mother and 64 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: siblings as being the product of living as a proud 65 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: man and a racist society where he just could not 66 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: make enough money to really support his family. And Baldwin 67 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: also credited his younger siblings as being a big part 68 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: of what kept him off the streets and largely out 69 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: of trouble in his youth. As the oldest, James was 70 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: always helping to look after the younger ones, and that 71 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,040 Speaker 1: was something he described doing with a book in one hand, 72 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:22,600 Speaker 1: because reading became one of his biggest means of escape. 73 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,279 Speaker 1: He liked to tell people that he read every volume 74 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: in Harlem's library branches, and that he had to go 75 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: to the New York Public Library on forty second Street 76 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: to find any books that he hadn't read yet. He 77 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,880 Speaker 1: also credited religion with helping to keep him out of trouble. 78 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: He had a religious conversion experience at the age of 79 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: fourteen and became a youth minister at Fireside Pentecostal Assembly. 80 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,479 Speaker 1: He was a youth minister for three years, and during 81 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: that time he crafted his use of language and his 82 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: speaking style. Throughout all this, James had been attending New 83 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: York public schools, first at PS twenty four, whose principle 84 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: was Gertrude Ayers. That was the first black principle new 85 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: York City. From there, he moved to Frederick Douglass Junior 86 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: High School, where Harlem Renaissance poet County Cullen was his 87 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: French teacher and the director of the school's literary club. 88 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:13,720 Speaker 1: While at Frederick Douglas Junior High James was editor of 89 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: the school's newspaper, The Douglas Pilot, and also tried to 90 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,359 Speaker 1: make money to help the family by shining shoes and 91 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: selling shopping bags. For high school, James was selected to 92 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: attend DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. This was 93 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:29,200 Speaker 1: one of New York's more elite schools, with a predominantly 94 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 1: Jewish student body. There, James again worked on the school newspaper, 95 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: The Magpie, and he excelled in his English and history courses. 96 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,920 Speaker 1: He also met painter Viewford Delaney, who became a friend 97 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: and something of a mentor, as he demonstrated for Baldwin 98 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,239 Speaker 1: that a black man could become an artist. James didn't 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: do nearly as well in his other courses as he 100 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: did in English and history, and his high school years 101 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: were personally very turbulent. In addition to all the stresses 102 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: of his home life, he had started to question his sexuality. 103 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: He had also started questioning the church as he began 104 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: to learn about the ways that Christianity had been used 105 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: as a weapon during slavery, and as he heard people 106 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: within his church and his stepfather make anti Semitic comments. 107 00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: He ultimately left the church in nineteen forty one. James 108 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: Baldwin graduated from high school in nineteen forty two, six 109 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,799 Speaker 1: months after the rest of his class. The internal turmoil 110 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: connected to his faith in his sexuality contributed to a 111 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: mental health crisis that derailed his studies. He had hoped 112 00:06:30,839 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: to go to the City College of New York, but 113 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: he couldn't afford a tuition Instead, he got a defense 114 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: industry job in Bellmeade, New Jersey, to try to help 115 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 1: support his family financially. By this point, James's stepfather was 116 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: struggling with his own mental health, with symptoms that included 117 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: depression and paranoia. Baldwin's job in Bellmead involved building a 118 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: new Army quartermaster depot, and it was Baldwin's first real 119 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: experience with overt racism on the job. The US Army 120 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: still segregated, and Baldwin continued to act the way he 121 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,799 Speaker 1: had acted back in Harlem when he was around white 122 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: Southern service members, and they, of course expected him to 123 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: be totally deferential to them and to stay out of 124 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: their way. Of course, racism had existed in Harlem as well, 125 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: but this was a whole different set of social expectations 126 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: and consequences. Baldwin described this experience as learning what it 127 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: meant to be a Negro. He refused to back down 128 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: in the face of racism and harassment on the job, 129 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: and he was fired. A friend helped him get his 130 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,080 Speaker 1: job back, and when the harassment resumed, he again pushed 131 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 1: back against it and was once again fired. On his 132 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: last night in Bellmead, Baldwin and some friends were refused 133 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: service at a diner because of their race, and Baldwin 134 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: really reached a breaking point. He threw a water pitcher 135 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,520 Speaker 1: and that shattered the mirror behind the bar. He described 136 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: this moment as revelatory, realizing that he had been angry 137 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: enough to kill someone and that his own life was 138 00:07:59,200 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: in danger. In him words quote from the Hatred I 139 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:05,800 Speaker 1: Carried in my own Heart. David Baldwin Senior died on 140 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,200 Speaker 1: July twenty ninth, nineteen forty three, which was also the 141 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 1: day James's youngest sibling, Paula Maria, was born. Two days later, 142 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 1: on August first, an uprising swept through Harlem. It was 143 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 1: sparked when a black soldier tried to intervene as a 144 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: white police officer was trying to arrest a black woman. 145 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,600 Speaker 1: The officer shot the soldier, and rumors spread that he 146 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 1: had been killed. This was one of a series of 147 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: similar riots that took place in cities around the United 148 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: States in nineteen forty three, and in Harlem, six black 149 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: people were killed as thousands of police were dispatched in 150 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,160 Speaker 1: response to the violence. Baldwin really felt like living in 151 00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,160 Speaker 1: Harlem had become untenable and he moved to Greenwich Village 152 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: to try to make a living as a writer, while 153 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: also waiting tables and doing other work just to try 154 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: to make ends meet and to send what money he 155 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,800 Speaker 1: could back to his family. He had relationships with men 156 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,160 Speaker 1: and with women, and at one point became engaged to 157 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: a woman, but ultimately broke off that engagement. He also 158 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: became friends with a man named Eugene Wurse, who encouraged 159 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: Baldwin to join the Young People's Socialist League, although it's 160 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: not entirely clear how long Baldwin was involved or exactly 161 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: what his involvement even was. In the years just after 162 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: World War Two, he spent at least some time with 163 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: various political groups that were connected to things like socialism, communism, 164 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: and labor rights, but he didn't become exclusively focused on 165 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: any of them, or in some cases ever officially become 166 00:09:28,200 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: a member. Yeah One of the biographies that I read 167 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: of him characterize this period as kind of bouncing around 168 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: from one group to another, getting a sense of what 169 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: different ideas were, but not really committing to any of 170 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: them at that point. In nineteen forty four, Baldwin met 171 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: Richard Wright, who helped him get Harper's Eugene F. Saxton Fellowship, 172 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: and that fellowship provided some of the funding to help 173 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,800 Speaker 1: him launch a literary career. He started getting published and 174 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: established magazines, but then in nineteen forty six, Eugene Worth 175 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: died by suicide. That was something that traumatiz and haunted 176 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: Baldwin for the rest of his life. Two years later, 177 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,440 Speaker 1: Baldwin had become certain that he could not live in 178 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: the United States anymore. It circled back to what he 179 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: had realized that last night in bell Mead. He had 180 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: a clear minded certainty that if he didn't leave the 181 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: US in its systematic racism and oppression, he would be 182 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: killed or he would kill someone. He finally decided to 183 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: go to France at the age of twenty four, or 184 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: get to that. After a quick sponsor break, James Baldwin 185 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: left for Paris on November eleventh, nineteen forty eight, using 186 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: the last of the money from a fellowship to pay 187 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: for a one way ticket by sea. Beyond that, he 188 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: had almost no money, virtually no connections, and nowhere to stay. 189 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: He also did not speak French, and his words quote, 190 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: I had no idea what might happen to me in 191 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,880 Speaker 1: France but I was very clear what would happen if 192 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: I remained in New Baldwin faced some criticism for leaving 193 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:05,840 Speaker 1: the US, with people arguing that he was abandoning a 194 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: country that he should have stayed in and tried to 195 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: help fix, but this first stretch of time in Paris 196 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 1: was critically important to his work and identity as a writer. 197 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: Unlike many of the other writers and artists who left 198 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:20,560 Speaker 1: the US for Paris, he didn't think of himself as 199 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: an expatriate, but more as a commuter. He still felt 200 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,600 Speaker 1: a deep connection to the United States, and he made 201 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: frequent trips back, and he spent long stretches of time 202 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,480 Speaker 1: in other parts of the world, including Istanbul. Shortly after 203 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: arriving in Paris, Baldwin met Swiss artist Lucien Happersberger, who 204 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: was white, bisexual, and at one point married to a woman. 205 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: When they met, Baldwin was twenty four and Happersberger was seventeen. 206 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: They eventually started a relationship that went on for almost 207 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: forty years. Baldwin described Happersberger as the love of his life, 208 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: and he became godfather to Happersberger's children. Along with other 209 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,960 Speaker 1: relationships in his life. Happersberger was one of the inspirations 210 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: for Baldwin's novel Giovanni's Room. While in France, Baldwin wrote 211 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:10,079 Speaker 1: Everybody's Protest Novel, which argued that political novels like Harriet 212 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin and Richard Wright's Native Son 213 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: were reinforcing stereotypes about black people and in particular, dehumanizing 214 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:23,079 Speaker 1: black men. Although Wright had helped Baldwin secure his first 215 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: writing fellowship, the two men did not see eye to 216 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: eye on a number of issues, and they frequently criticized 217 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: one another. On December nineteenth, nineteen forty nine, Baldwin was 218 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: arrested for being in receipt of stolen property after he 219 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: borrowed a bedsheet that a friend had stolen from a hotel. 220 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: This whole experience led him to think about identity and 221 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: policing in the United States versus in France. The police 222 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:49,920 Speaker 1: in France saw him as an American, while police in 223 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: New York would have seen him as an inherently criminal problem. 224 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: But he also became aware that most of the people 225 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,199 Speaker 1: who were in jail with him in Paris were from 226 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 1: Northern Africa, and the French colonialism had its own part 227 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: to play in Racism in France. This first stretch of 228 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: time in France let Baldwin look back on the US 229 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: from a distance, seeing things from angles that just were 230 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: not possible for him while he was living in it. 231 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,439 Speaker 1: He started coming to terms with both his own history 232 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,960 Speaker 1: and with his sexuality while living in France. In Switzerland, 233 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: he finished his semi autobiographical novel Go Tell It on 234 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: the Mountain she had actually started writing in high school, 235 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,800 Speaker 1: as well as a play called The Amen Corner and 236 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: a series of essays. In nineteen fifty two, Baldwin made 237 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: a trip back to the US with financial help from 238 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: Marlon Brando. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in June 239 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen fifty four, and other fellowships followed. In nineteen 240 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: fifty nine, he was awarded a Ford Foundation grant to 241 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:49,679 Speaker 1: work on the novel Another Country. When This novel included 242 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: a fictionalized depiction of his friendship with Eugene Wirth, including 243 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 1: Worth's suicide. Professor and literary critic Fred Stanley later wrote 244 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: of Another Country quote, Baldwin has been audacious enough prior 245 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 1: to most other artists to grapple candidly with the usually 246 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: taboosed subjects of American society and culture, interracial sexual intercourse, 247 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 1: homosexuality as a normative mode of experience, and bisexuality as 248 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: a real phenomenon. After similar back and forth travel, Baldwin 249 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: returned to the US for a longer stretch, starting in 250 00:14:22,480 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: July of nineteen fifty seven. A lot of his written 251 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,720 Speaker 1: work during this time documents or reflects on the Civil 252 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:32,120 Speaker 1: Rights movement, a movement that he wasn't really sure how 253 00:14:32,200 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: he fit into. He had become well known and well 254 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,600 Speaker 1: established as a writer by this point, and while he 255 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: did not want to describe himself as the movement's spokesperson, 256 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: there were definitely people who thought of him that way. 257 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: As the Civil rights movement grew and evolved, Baldwin found 258 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: himself aligned in some ways with Martin Luther King Junior's 259 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: approach through nonviolent action, and in other ways with Malcolm X, 260 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: the Nation of Islam, and the Black Power movement. For example, 261 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: as time went on, Baldwren increasingly favored the Black Power 262 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: movement's focus on immediate radical change instead of non violent 263 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 1: incremental progress, But he really did not agree with the 264 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: Black power movement's focus on black separatism. One hallmark of 265 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: Baldwin's writing during the Civil rights movement was that it 266 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: was accessible to and sometimes written specifically for a white audience. 267 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: Much of this written work carried an implicit or explicit 268 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: warning that racism was not just harming black people, that 269 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: it was also destroying white people as well. Some of 270 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: it has also been described as prophetic, foreseeing that the 271 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 1: movement would become more militant if nonviolent activism did not 272 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: meet its goals, and foreseeing that white activism would turn 273 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: away from that militancy. Baldwin's work in the movement was 274 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:50,880 Speaker 1: not just about writing, though he also made speeches. He 275 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:56,280 Speaker 1: donated money, wrote letters, sim petitions organized during the lunch 276 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: counter sit ins that we talked about on the show. 277 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: Earlier this year, James Baldwin traveled to Tallahassee to interview 278 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: student demonstrators. In nineteen sixty one, he became a sponsor 279 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 1: for the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, and 280 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,280 Speaker 1: he also helped sponsor a rally to disband the House 281 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: on American Activities Committee. In nineteen sixty three, he took 282 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 1: a speaking tour through the South in conjunction with the 283 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: Congress of Racial Equality. During this tour, he met and 284 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: started working with civil rights activists and NAACP Field secretary 285 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: Medgar Evers. Baldwin's book The Fire Next Time came out 286 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: during this tour as well. It contains two essays, My 287 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 1: Dungeon Shook Letter to my Nephew on the one hundredth 288 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: anniversary of the Emancipation and Down at the Cross Letter 289 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: from a Region of My Mind. The latter essay dwells 290 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 1: on Baldwin's experiences with religion, including both Christianity and the 291 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 1: Nation of Islam, relating them to race and racism, and 292 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: reflecting on his own beliefs. The Fire Next Time spent 293 00:16:54,200 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: more than forty weeks in the top five of the 294 00:16:56,440 --> 00:17:00,760 Speaker 1: New York Times bestseller list. On May seventeenth, nineteen sixty three, 295 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: during Martin Luther King Junior's Birmingham campaign, Baldwin was on 296 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: the cover of Time magazine under a banner that read 297 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: Birmingham and Beyond the Negro Push for Equality. A few 298 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: days before that Time magazine cover, Baldwin had sent a 299 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: telegram to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy criticizing the United 300 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: States lack of response to the civil rights movement, especially 301 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: in the face of increasing violence and brutality against the 302 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 1: people who were participating in that movement. Baldwin framed this 303 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: inaction and the failure of the nation to make black 304 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: liberation a priority, as a moral treason. The result was 305 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,320 Speaker 1: that Kennedy met with Baldwin for breakfast on May twenty third, 306 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: asking him to gather writers and activists to meet with him. 307 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: The next day, they met in Kennedy's apartment in New York, 308 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,840 Speaker 1: where Kennedy was joined by Department of Justice lawyer Burke Marshall. 309 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: Baldwin had brought his brother David, as well as Harry Belafonte, 310 00:17:56,240 --> 00:18:00,000 Speaker 1: Lorraine Hansbury, Lena Horn, and Rip Torn, along with REPAT 311 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:04,399 Speaker 1: representatives from the Chicago Urban League, Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited, 312 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: the NAACP, and core Clarence Benjamin Jones, who was one 313 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 1: of Martin Luther King Junior's advisors, was also there. But 314 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: Kennedy's goal for this meeting was not so much to 315 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: get a sense of what Black Americans needed, or what 316 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement's goals were, or how the government 317 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: might incorporate those goals. He was more focused on figuring 318 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: out who among them might serve as sort of a 319 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,720 Speaker 1: mouthpiece for the government, promoting the government's policies to the 320 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: black community to improve race relations, and also on outlining 321 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: what the government had done already so far to the 322 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 1: assembled group while basically asking for their patients. This meeting 323 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,720 Speaker 1: consequently did not go well. Baldwin and the other assembled 324 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:50,360 Speaker 1: activists were trying to describe the systemic racism that went 325 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: well beyond what was encoded in law, while Kennedy was 326 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,399 Speaker 1: talking about how his own family had been oppressed for 327 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: being Irish. Kennedy came off as deeply naive and unwilling 328 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: to listen. Eventually, Lorraine Hansbury walked out and several others followed. Afterward, 329 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: the FBI started monitoring Baldwin, placing him on its security 330 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: Index of potentially dangerous people and amassing a file on 331 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: him that was more than seventeen hundred pages long. This meeting, 332 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,720 Speaker 1: though while not immediately successful, is often credited with starting 333 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: to shift Robert Kennedy's perspectives, leading him to encourage his brother, 334 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: President John F. Kennedy, to address the nation on a 335 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: subject of civil rights. Kennedy gave his Civil Rights Address 336 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: on June eleventh, nineteen sixty three, in the early morning 337 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,480 Speaker 1: hours of June twelfth, Medgar Evers was assassinated in his 338 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 1: driveway in front of his children. The culprit was Byrondella Beckwith, 339 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:46,680 Speaker 1: who was found guilty of the crime more than thirty 340 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: years later. Baldwin continued his writing and work during the 341 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,719 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, but the assassination of Medgar Evers was the 342 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: first of a series of events that sort of shifted 343 00:19:56,440 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: his work and his outlook. Others included the Sixteenth Street 344 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: b Baptist Church bombing in nineteen sixty three, as well 345 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,360 Speaker 1: as the assassinations of two other men that he had 346 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: known and worked with, Malcolm X in nineteen sixty five 347 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: and Martin Luther King Junior in nineteen sixty eight. And 348 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:14,159 Speaker 1: we're going to get to more on that after we 349 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: first have a sponsor break. As we noted earlier, James 350 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: Baldwin never seemed really sure where he fit within the 351 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: civil rights movement. Although he participated in the nineteen sixty 352 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: three March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he wasn't 353 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,880 Speaker 1: a big part of its public presence or its planning. 354 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,040 Speaker 1: There's been some speculation that this was because of his 355 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: sexual orientation, but as We've noted on earlier episodes of 356 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: the show one of the major planners of the march 357 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: was Byered Rustin, who was also gay. It's more likely 358 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: the Baldwin's views were becoming less and less aligned with 359 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:58,680 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Junior's nonviolent arm of the movement. As 360 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,720 Speaker 1: time went on, Baldwin became increasingly radical. When the Black 361 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,480 Speaker 1: Panther Party was established in nineteen sixty six, Baldwin supported 362 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: many of its efforts, including school breakfast and lunch programs, 363 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: community healthcare programs, schools, and armed self defense programs meant 364 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: to protect black communities from violence, including violence at the 365 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: hands of police. Baldwin's written work had always been focused 366 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: on both racism and homophobia, and he had been both 367 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: critically acclaimed and a bestseller through this work, but in 368 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,399 Speaker 1: the late sixties and early seventies, reviewers increasingly criticized him 369 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,119 Speaker 1: for becoming more pessimistic, accusatory, and vehement and two directly 370 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: focused on civil rights. This included the three act play 371 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: Blues for Mister Charlie, which was based on the murder 372 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: of Emmett's Hill. And it wasn't just white literary reviewers 373 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 1: who were criticizing his work. His advocacy for Palestinian liberation 374 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: was criticized as anti semitic, although he also criticized anti 375 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: semitism within black activism. Members of the Black Arts movement 376 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,920 Speaker 1: criticized his work because it was intended, at least in part, 377 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: for white audiences, rather than being written for other black people. 378 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: The non violent arm of the Civil rights movement criticized 379 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: his more radical and confrontational views, while the Black Power 380 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,159 Speaker 1: movement criticized his sexual orientation and his integrationist stances. His 381 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 1: sexual orientation was also criticized from outside the movement. The 382 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: Kennedys nicknamed him Martin Luther Queen. He basically was criticized 383 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:35,240 Speaker 1: from every conceivable direction. In nineteen seventy, Baldwin returned to France, 384 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,679 Speaker 1: where he bought a farmhouse in the medieval village of 385 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,239 Speaker 1: Saint Paul de Vance. Although he's still did a lot 386 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: of traveling, thus became his permanent home for the rest 387 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,399 Speaker 1: of his life. Locals named it Shay Baldwin. Baldwin's writing 388 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: in political views had always been anti capitalist, anti colonial, 389 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: anti imperialist, anti racist, anti homophobic, Pan African, pro Palestinian liberation, 390 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: and against mass incarceration. He also made connections between black 391 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: liberation in the US and United States foreign policy, noting 392 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,399 Speaker 1: that a nation that truly supported black liberation would be 393 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,120 Speaker 1: supporting black freedom fighters elsewhere in the world and supporting 394 00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:17,879 Speaker 1: people who were fighting for independence from colonial powers. All 395 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,399 Speaker 1: this work had also been primarily focused on men in 396 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,439 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties. That started to change, in 397 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: part through televised conversations with poets Nikki Giovanni and past 398 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:33,280 Speaker 1: podcast subject Audrey Lord. Both women really pushed Baldwin on 399 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:37,680 Speaker 1: issues of gender, gender roles, and sexuality, ultimately leading him 400 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 1: to criticize the whiteness of the mainstream feminist movement, as 401 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: well as its homophobia and anti lesbianism. But like Bayard Rustin, James, 402 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: Baldwin never took a leadership role within the gay rights 403 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: movement as it became more public and widespread in the 404 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and eighties. He also expressed some ambivalence about 405 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: exactly how to describe himself in his own identity. In 406 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: one nineteen sixty five interview, he said, quote those terms homosexual, bisexual, 407 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: heterosexual are twentieth century terms which for me really have 408 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 1: very little meaning I've never myself, in watching myself and 409 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,840 Speaker 1: watching other people, been able to discern exactly where the 410 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: barriers were. I read one piece as I was working 411 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: on this that noted that this has some similarities to 412 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,360 Speaker 1: conversations happening today about all of these ideas being socially 413 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: constructed and what they mean. Baldwin continued to travel and 414 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: teach and write and work until late in his life, 415 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: but by the late nineteen eighties he was having serious 416 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:43,160 Speaker 1: issues with his health. He had developed hepatitis and experienced 417 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: liver damage back in the nineteen seventies, followed by two 418 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:49,119 Speaker 1: heart attacks. Then in nineteen eighty seven, he was diagnosed 419 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,359 Speaker 1: with esophageal cancer. I actually also found references that it 420 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,240 Speaker 1: was stomach cancer or pancreatic cancer, and I don't know 421 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: which of those is correct. Regardless, though the cancer progressed 422 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: really quickly. He gave his last interview to journalist Quincy 423 00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: Troop just days before his death. James Baldwin died on 424 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,960 Speaker 1: December one, nineteen eighty seven, at the age of sixty three. 425 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: Lucian Happersberger was there with him, as well as a 426 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:16,119 Speaker 1: household attendant. His funeral was held at the Church of 427 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 1: Saint John the Divine in Manhattan with five thousand people 428 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: in attendance. A Mary Baraka delivered the eulogy with tributes 429 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: from others including Maya Angelou and Tony Morrison. In the 430 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: words of a. Mary Baraka's eulogy, quote, this man traveled 431 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 1: the earth, like its history and its biographer. He reported, criticized, 432 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: made beautiful, analyzed, cajoled, lyricized, attacked, saying made us think, 433 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: made us better, made us consciously human, or perhaps more 434 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 1: acidly prehuman. And also in the words of Tony Morrison, 435 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: addressing the late Baldwin as Jemmy, quote, in your hands, 436 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: language was handsome again. In your hands we saw how 437 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,639 Speaker 1: it was meant to be, neither bloodless nor bloody, and 438 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,200 Speaker 1: yet alive. It should surprise no one who knows anything 439 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 1: about Tony Morrison. That tribute to Baldwin from the funeral 440 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,360 Speaker 1: is beautiful and I highly encourage reading it. During his lifetime, 441 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: James Baldwin wrote twenty two books, including six novels. He 442 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,679 Speaker 1: was a member of the National Advisory Board of the 443 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: Congress on Racial Equality, as well as being a member 444 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. 445 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: The Authors League, the International Pen the Dramatist Guild, the 446 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: Actors Studio, and the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. 447 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: He also hoped that his Holme in France would be 448 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,840 Speaker 1: turned into a writer's colony after his death, but it 449 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 1: was eventually sold to developers and torn down. Baldwin had 450 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,840 Speaker 1: been a bestseller during his career, especially during the prolific 451 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, but by the end of his life he 452 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: was not as widely read. That started to change, as 453 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: we said at the top of the show, with the 454 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the many 455 00:26:56,160 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: connections between the movement and Baldwin's ideas and writings decades earlier. 456 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: In the last few years, there's also been a film 457 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: adaptation of his novel If Beale Street Could Talk, which 458 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:09,399 Speaker 1: came out in twenty eighteen, as well as the award 459 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: winning twenty sixteen documentary called I Am Not Your Negro. 460 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,400 Speaker 1: As we said at the top of the show, Baldwin's 461 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,320 Speaker 1: work is frequently part of anti racism courses and reading lists, 462 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: so we thought we would end with just a couple 463 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 1: of quotes quickly from that work. One is from the 464 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: end of the Fire Next Time quote everything now we 465 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,480 Speaker 1: must assume is in our hands. We have no right 466 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,639 Speaker 1: to assume otherwise. If we, and now I mean the 467 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:36,840 Speaker 1: relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, 468 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:40,679 Speaker 1: like lovers, insist on or create the consciousness of the others, 469 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: do not falter in our duty now we may be 470 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: able handful that we are to end the racial nightmare 471 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,679 Speaker 1: and achieve our country and change the history of the world. 472 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: If we do not now dare everything The fulfillment of 473 00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: that prophecy recreated from the Bible in a song by 474 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: a slave is upon us. God gave Noah the rainbow sign, 475 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: no more water, the fire next time. The other quote 476 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: is from an interview that he gave in nineteen seventy 477 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,560 Speaker 1: where he said, I'm optimistic about the future, but not 478 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: about the future of this civilization. I'm optimistic about the 479 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: civilization which will replace this one, not as James Baldwin. 480 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: I talked to various friends as I was trying to 481 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,880 Speaker 1: figure out what I needed to work on next, and 482 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,400 Speaker 1: in every case when I said I think James Baldwin, 483 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: the answer was like, obviously yes, so yeah, I hope 484 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: I have done his life and work justice today. Thanks 485 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,040 Speaker 1: so much for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd 486 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,479 Speaker 1: like to send us a note, our email addresses History 487 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and you can subscribe to 488 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,240 Speaker 1: the show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 489 00:28:55,280 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.