Although he spent a great deal of his life abroad, James Baldwin always remained a quintessentially American writer. Whether he was working in Paris or Istanbul, he never ceased to reflect on his experience as a black man in white America. In numerous essays, novels, plays, and public speeches, the eloquent voice of James Baldwin spoke of the pain and struggle of black Americans and the saving power of brotherhood.
James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924. The oldest of nine children, he grew up in poverty, developing a troubled relationship with his strict, religious father. As a child, he cast about for a way to escape his circumstances. As he recalls, “I knew I was black, of course, but I also knew I was smart. I didn’t know how I would use my mind, or even if I could, but that was the only thing I had to use.” By the time he was fourteen, Baldwin was spending much of his time in libraries and had found his passion for writing.
During this early part of his life, he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a preacher. Of those teen years, Baldwin recalled, “Those three years in the pulpit — I didn’t realize it then — that is what turned me into a writer, really, dealing with all that anguish and that despair and that beauty.” Many have noted the strong influence of the language of the church on Baldwin’s style, its cadences and tone. Eager to move on, Baldwin knew that if he left the pulpit he must also leave home, so at eighteen he took a job working for the New Jersey railroad.
After working for a short while with the railroad, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village, where he came into contact with the well-known writer Richard Wright. Baldwin worked for a number of years as a freelance writer, working primarily on book reviews. Though Baldwin had not yet finished a novel, Wright helped to secure him a grant with which he could support himself as a writer in Paris. So, in 1948 Baldwin left for Paris, where he would find enough distance from the American society he grew up in to write about it.
After writing a number of pieces that were published in various magazines, Baldwin went to Switzerland to finish his first novel. Go Tell It on the Mountain, published in 1953, was an autobiographical work about growing up in Harlem. The passion and depth with which he described the struggles of black Americans was unlike anything that had been written. Though not instantly recognized as such, Go Tell It on the Mountain has long been considered an American classic. Throughout the rest of the decade, Baldwin moved from Paris to New York to Istanbul, writing Notes of a Native Son (1955) and Giovanni’s Room (1956). Dealing with taboo themes in both books (interracial relationships and homosexuality, respectively), Baldwin was creating socially relevant and psychologically penetrating literature.
Being abroad gave Baldwin a perspective on his life and a solitary freedom to pursue his craft. “Once you find yourself in another civilization,” he notes, “you’re forced to examine your own.” In a sense, Baldwin’s travels brought him even closer to the social concerns of contemporary America. In the early 1960s, overwhelmed with a responsibility to the times, Baldwin returned to take part in the civil rights movement. Traveling throughout the South, he began work on an explosive work about black identity and the state of racial struggle, The Fire Next Time (1963). For many, Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time were an early and primary voice in the civil rights movement. Though at times criticized for his pacifist stance, Baldwin remained throughout the 1960s an important figure in that struggle.
After the assassinations of his friends Medgar Evers, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, Baldwin returned to France where he worked on a book about the disillusionment of the times, If Beale Street Could Talk (1974). Many responded to the harsh tone of If Beale Street Could Talk with accusations of bitterness. But, even if Baldwin had encapsulated much of the anger of the times in his book, he always remained a constant advocate for universal love and brotherhood. During the last ten years of his life, Baldwin produced a number of important works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and turned to teaching as a new way of connecting with the young. By his death in 1987, James Baldwin had become one of the most important and vocal advocates for equality. From Go Tell It on the Mountain to The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985), James Baldwin created works of literary beauty and depth that will remain essential parts of the American canon.
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By far the most interesting writer of the 20th century , his life, his fabulous way with words and his well thought out opions.Will never be forgotten.
I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT READING JAMES BALDWIN’S NOVELS MADE A DEEP AND PROFOUND CHANGE IN MY LIFE, AND MY VIEW OF THE WORLD AROUND ME. HE HAS HELPED ME FIND MY OWN VOICE AS A WRITER, AND TO NOT FEAR OTHERS’ OPINIONS OF MY VOICE OR MY WRITING. THANK YOU FOR INLCUDING HIM IN THIS SERIES
Was James Balwin A homosexual? Just wondering.
Yes, he was a homosexual.
i have to do a project on james baldwin :(
i got to do some research on James Baldwin, and from what i came up with this guy was remarkable. I can’t wait to get the rest of his work. fromm what i have read so far i truly think everybody should reasd this, it is highily recomended. please read….
He was one of the smartest black writers of his time and his work is limitless in it’s timeless application to current events and the condition of America today
I have been a baldwin since I was very young and have always enjoyed is stance on major social issues. His ability to be himself has inspired so many of us to be ourself and if not then at least myself, there is no human being alive that should be unable to realize his stunning impact on writing on storyes and on standards for which one can only believe that could excel to with the greatest of assitance. this assistance perhaps is what baldwin felt from his travls and i do hope that i find myself on the path of the journey he undertook.
like seriously was he a homosexual please respond
When is episode is going to air on my local PBS sation? I never got a chance to view it I feel at times that I am held captive by my local pbs sation. I want to see this program about James Baldwin and Truman Capote,and others I tried to ask the local pbs staion put they never answer me back.It sounds like something worth seeing I hope to see one day.
james baldwin you are a great writer your story was great
im doing him for a research project hes a very well known author so i want to give him props for that never read any of his work though but i will eventually…………………………………………………………………………
Someone asked “Was he homosexual.” Ordinarily I’d say “does it matter?” but since a few of his works deal with the topic, he was, read his book “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” it’s an autobiography and should help you.
“Go Tell It on the Mountain” is not an autobiography. It might be called an “autobiographical” novel, since it is a novel, Baldwin’s first. –Melvin Hinton
I watched the documentary Baldwin’s Nigger recently and found Mr Baldwin to be very compelling in his speech. At no stage did I get the impression that he was forcing his views on anyone, but, made his point as honestly as he knew it. A honest man who pursued a cause he believed in as I believe in today. Thank GOD for great men like him.
just wondering about this, but can anyone tell me who wrote this article
I would like to buy this. Anybody know where I can find it?
I have a project from english composition 2 my topic was designed to me from my professor i was the only one who got it, i felt kind of ofended, because he knew i am gay and i will be more comfortable with this biography, anyway i have enjoy it to the highes. i have learn so much about faith,hope and be always proud and stand for your rights and freedom as americans. and i am very proud to be part of his history a young black/spanish/american. R.I.P MR Baldwin.you open the doors to gay community and others aspects.
james baldeim is ome of the smartest black men out there!!! i have to do a project on him and i am quite elated to have him as my topic!!:))
James Baldwin was the intellectual of intellectuals because he wrote from two unique perspectives or oppressed identities — black and gay. This made him one of America’s (black, white, brown or yellow; man or woman) most talented literary figures of all times.
Baldwin is a name I will never forget; back in Africa during my undergraduate years, especially in the American Literature class,my teacher used to talk about him and other American writers.As a U.S. permanent resident, I do feel the positive effects of the contributions made by the likes of Baldwin in terms of race relations. RIP Baldwin!
wat was he an win did he die
I love James Baldwin’s books…….. HE ROCKS………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
I too love James Baldwin. Often I question if people fully comprehend the true meaning of what he wanted people (especially black people) to understand about racial-identity,gender,sexuality, religion and how they are all intertwine; used in stopping self-liberation. How we’ve become stuck in understanding why taboo’s exist on sexuality. How love (self-love) is the greatest love of all in a society that continues to perpetuate stereotypes, and bind us on a path of settling are conscienceless of self loathing without resolving questions like: who has the rights to define and interpret loves individuality? when is living not living..how and when do you start liberating your self-love,in order to survive and enjoy life? Why is religious persecution used to control and dictate righteousness against the spirit of humanist that exist in all of us to evolve?
if i dident have to help my lil girl withhe project fI would not have found out about such a important man
Your awesome i love you god have mercy on your soul… In a good way…!
you are my FAVORITE writer in the entire WORLD. I LOVE YOUR BOOKS
James Baldwin was a great african American writer. People fail to realize that. They only focus on the hip popular writers now. If you read James Baldwin’s work then to you and me he is still here. RIP J.B
R.I.P I love your work james I can’t go a day without reading your work
Many say that there will probably never be a Shakespear again, and that is true. But to say that there will never be another writer as good, and meaningful as Shakespear is not, James Baldwin and many others have proved this. I wish I could meet such an amazing person.
even though im only elleven i see the importance of this mans words . i was forced to do a report on a african american who changed history i couldnt have chosen a better man!!!!!!!!!!!!
you are very good writer R.I.P James Baldwin
I’am soo inpresed with james Baldwin he was an aswome men he’s mom was a slave and his step father didn’t treat him well and still he became a famous men that everyone loved he was an aswome men love him..
this author has open the doors to me
im doing a project on james Baldwin and he’s really intresting
Baldwin was a profound thinker and great American, and I am somewhat puzzled about all of the references to him being a great “black” or “African-American” writer. Whether you realize it or not, these labels marginalize him and his work. His works are tremendously meaningful and inspiring, no matter what his skin color may have been. Of course, he offers perspicacious insight into being black in America, but he writes about the human condition.
I am doing a project on James Baldwin
go tell it on the mountain was pointless.
i am doin a project on him 2 && i never knew that the was a homosexual
I love baldwin he is exact, and for real not a fake. reading his books essays etc put your imagination to work for you feel what he was writing. black people whites should read him and they will identify with him. i would love to see what he could of written if he had not passed,i love jim and so should those wanting to know about the black experience.
I am doing a class project on James Baldwin
Mr. Baldwin was a remarkable American writer. With ambition. He is also my Cousin.
go tell it on the mountain was not pointless
u obviously did not read it with the attention that you should have, but baldwin was a remarkable man…but if any one noes what harlem renaissance figures baldwin listend to in switzerland…it would be a great help im doing a project on him as well =]
wow this relly give me some information I “love” this website THANKS!
when i read sonny’s blues, by james baldwin i was so impressed that i started crying, because its as if he was writing about me.
I had to read Go Tell it on the Mountain for English, it was a good book but very hard to follow and understand.
Hi was he a free mason,.. i know he was homosexual. also a reverend in a church and a close associate of Dr. Marin Luther King
Baldwin writes with such emotion and yet never forces the pathos inherent in what he is writing. Magnificent. Brilliant. I so wish I was old enough to have met him! Genius.
this was great man just great
i have to do a project over him, not thrilled, but i am interested :)
I have a class paper to write on Baldwin and I only read one short story “Sonny’s Blues” I would like more information on him.
james baldwin was a good man. in had a good life that he was living.I think from reading this passage he was a loving in caring man. He will be well miss today after reading his story.
What does it matter regarding his sexual orientation? It did not define him and is of little consequence. His body of work speaks for itself. He is a great writer.
I’m doing a multimedia project on James Baldwin, and so far his books is straight from the heart….
The greatest American poet. I am a white man in my 20’s yet I empathise with him wholly.
these are good books. you are the best poet out there.
Growing up in an abusive and repressed and religious family, even though I’m white, James Baldwin’s books are very important to me. He is a voice of hope and freedom in the night.
WHAT COMPARISONS CAN BE MADE BETWEEN JAMES BALDWIN’S THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING, SO SOON & SONNY’S BLUES???
He is first and foremost a great WRITER. Then a great AMERICAN WRITER. And then A great BLACK writer or great African American writer. One of the best actually. Neither one of those distinctions is more valid than the other. His a writer and a very talented and deeply moving one.
WAS HE a homosexual or not?
It’s a tough question. Baldwin himself did not have a direct answer. In an interview, he told a reporter that he did not identify as a homosexual, but that he had loved many people, both men and women (similar to something James Dean said, but Dean is not generally thought of as a “gay actor”). You should remember when you ask this question that many, many people have sex with others of the same sex and are not necessarily identifiable as gay.
Is he the one who quoted “it’s better to travel than arrive” ?
For those of you out there who like to label; Jimmy was indeed homosexual ( read Giovannies Room) but he
surpassed any definition that people are comfortable
with as you can tell by his work (notes of a native son) . People who only read because of having school
assignments due or read to have suto impressive sounding conversation at partys completly miss the point. Jimmy was the closest thing to a “race” prophet
if there ever was one and from his short stories to
his final novel,celebrated blackness not just as a race of folks,but as part of a cultural tapestry that
has its story just as every other culture has their
story, no better no worse.
[...] James Baldwin (American Author 1924 – [...]
Baldwin,a true native son as well the real fire next time. I feel lov of him in his work.This man gave his soul,spirit and heart to us, i find him as a refreshing quencher for the thrist of truth.I have a strong love for the troth Baldwin gave it up. tyrone henderson
Baldwin should get more recognition: as much as other writers of his generation like Capote, Mailer and Vidal do. I found out about him “accidentally”, which is criminal, as his name should be on everyone’s lips like those authors aforementioned. He was arguably the greatest wordsmith of the 20th century.
Thank God for James Baldwin. I wish he were still alive today! Yes, he was both black and gay which respectively are traditionally the most hated group and the currently the most hated group of people in America. Equality and total acceptance for both of these groups cannot possibly come soon enough!!!
I have recently discovered James Baldwin. I am completely blown away by this man’s passion, honesty, eloquence and humour. Glad I haven’t read any of his work, because now I have these exciting stories to discover. Can’t wait to learn from him. Bless you James.
baldwin is a contoversial writer who sometimes joins those who support brotherhood between whites and blacks and at the same time he sides with his ethnic group feeling and trying to understand their deep pains and suffering. critics are often confronted with this great confusion, but what he really wants is in fact to spread racial love inspired from the religious one for a universal peace.
James Baldwin was one of the few writers whose purpose was to deconstuct and dismantle white supremacy. Like his predecessor Frantz Fanon he understood in order for all to be free a decolonizing of the mind is needed. And here we are at the beginnings of decolonizing our brains. Leaving behind Eurocentric ideas about race, religion and sex.
How can I get a copy of the PBS documentary on James Baldwin in which, near the close, he decried despair “because one can never tell a child that there is no hope!”
How can I get a copy of the PBS documentary on James Baldwin.
James,is a true black American, what he suffered in his life, he wrote in his books.
How glad I am to be literate and able to have experienced the writings of James Baldwin.
For me James Baldwin is one of the greatest American writers.How glad I am to be literate and able to have experienced the writings of James Baldwin.I feel love of him in his work.This man gave his soul,spirit and heart to his reader, i find him as a refreshing quencher for the thirst of truth.
In No Name in the Street Baldwin talks about his friend Tony Maynard. Does anyone know what happened to Maynard or have any suggestions about how I can find out? Thanks very much
James Baldwin sounds like a remarkable man. I read this short bio about him for my english homework. I hope that we learn some more about him in class.
First and foremost, Rest in Peace… Your legacy is being carried on friend…
2. If you care about whether he was gay or not, then you have clearly missed the point of his writing or you have not read it yet.
3. This man was a genius, and he was able to do it by being conscious and self-aware.
4. I sincerely regret that I was not able to talk to him, due to the fact that I was born two years after his death.
5. If all the people in the world could understand the meat of his writing and the lessons he has to teach, than this world would be devoid of problems.
~Sonny
Sachit.Shetty@gmail.com
(Comment back whether you agree or disagree I would love to discuss these thoughts)
As a young man, when I read Baldwin’s ‘Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone’, it captivated me and opened my eyes to depths I had never imagined. It was the first book that brought tears to my eyes. Baldwin is|was a great writer, pure genius.
Nice writing this man wrote.
I like it alot.
Going to the bookstore this afternoon.
Gunna pick up a copy.
Envy his talent.
Raw taent, yet so good.
Does any one know if he won any prizes?
I would like to know.
Envy him if he won any prizes as well.
Im a Student at Brooklyn College, and one of my assignment were to write a paper on Mr. Baldwin. Granted I dont like reading as much but I found Mr. Baldwin such an amazing writer. I liked the way he captured my attention with life experiences of his on as well as society. Everything seemed so real. I wish I have had a chance to meet him, but unfortunaltely he had to leave us. I’m leaving this comment because I’m pretty sure there is a lot of individuals in this world today who really dont like to read books, but I feel that if they would read at least one of his books they will absolutely love the enjoyment of reading. Thanks Mr.Baldwin and may you R.I.P Tania C from Brooklyn NY
Of the few works that i have read of his, James Baldwin as greatly broadened my saddness for what happened to the African Americans during the civil rights movement. I can proudly say that he is one of my idols for the things he did, and the things he wrote about with the intentions to better this country, or better yet the world. His works will continue to prove what happened in the history of our country to the generations to come. im just sad i couldnt have the honor of shaking his hand while he was still with us. RIP James Baldwin
HE IS A EXTRADONARY NOVELIST.I AM LUCKY ENOUGH TO BE READING HIS AWARD WINNING NOVEL “GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN” IN MY 10TH GRADE CLASS.