JAMES BALDWIN (1924-1987)

~ New posts will be added throughout the month of February ~

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”  -James Baldwin

James Baldwin was an iconic author who gave us poems, novels, short stories, essays and plays.

He was a voice of the American civil rights movement.

He shed light on various issues such as being a gay black man, race, religion and many other matters.

His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was published in 1953, for which he received acclaim for his insights on race, humanity and spirituality. The novel is about a teen growing up in Harlem during the 1930’s while struggling with self-identity. The story is semi-autobiographical.

He went on to write much more. Below is a short list of only some of his work:

• Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953)
• Notes of a Native Son (1955)
• Giovanni’s Room (1956)
• Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes From a Native Son (1961)
• Another Country (1962)
• The Fire Next Time (1963)
• Going to Meet the Man (1965)
• Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (1974)
• Just Above My Head (1979)
• I Am Not Your Negro (2017)  – Before Baldwin’d death, he had been working on a book about Malcom X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, but never finished it. His unpublished manuscript along with various notes, letters, interviews and excerpts, were put together, edited and published. A documentary was also released.