James Baldwin (1924–1987), the American novelist, poet, and playwright, was an acclaimed essayist from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. Forty years later, his essays still resonate. In the month this SDG description was written, Baldwin was quoted in the New York Times and the New York Review of Books. Leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement refer to Baldwin. His ideas are examined and explained by scholars today, in essays and books, because Baldwin continues to be relevant to us.
Baldwin's ideas and insights adjusted over time. Notes of a Native Son, a collection of early essays, contained some of the hopes of Martin Luther King and others. The essays a decade later, including No Name in the Street and The Fire Next Time, were inspired by the rise of Black Power. Baldwin did not reject his earlier writings; his advocacy changed emphasis.
In this SDG we will read and discuss Baldwin’s essays from a Library of Congress collection edited by Toni Morrison. We will read excerpts from a seminal 2020 book Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude Jr. that assesses Baldwin’s influence here and now. We will watch the documentary I Am Not Your Negro that is based on Baldwin’s words. We will watch selected short films of Baldwin’s interviews and speeches, including the famous 1965 “debate” with William Buckley at the Cambridge University Union which itself invited commentary.
Join this SDG and discuss with us how James Baldwin’s ideas and sensibilities are pertinent to today, and speak to the way we live in this country.
Begin Again is a large print book. Collected Essays is a small print book. The Collected Essays in the grouping Other Essays are short and relatively easy to read compared to the other essays.
The short films in the fourth bibliographical reference will mainly be picked during the SDG.
• May 3, week 1, Begin Again chapters 1 – 3, pg 3 to 84. Remember that this book has large print.
• May 10, week 2, Collected Essays, from the collection Notes of a Native Son
o Autobiographical Notes, pg 5-9,
o Everybody’s Protest Novel, pg 11-18,
o Many Thousands Gone, pg 19-34,
o The Harlem Ghetto, pg 42-53.
• May 17, week 3, Collected Essays, from the collection Notes of a Native Son
o Journey to Atlanta, pg 54-62,
o Notes of a Native Son, pg 63-84,
o Encounter on the Seine, pg 85-90,
o Stranger in the Village, pg 117-129.
• May 24, week 4, Collected Essays, from the collection Nobody Knows My Name
o Introduction, pg, 135-136,
o Princes and Powers, pg 143-169,
o Fifth Avenue Uptown: A Letter from Harlem, pg 170-179,
o In Search of a Majority, pg 215-221.
• May 31,week 5, Collected Essays, from the collection Nobody Knows My Name
o A Fly in Buttermilk, pg 187-196,
o Nobody Knows My Name, pg 197-208,
o Faulkner and Desegregation, pg 209-214,
o Notes from a Hypothetical Novel, pg 222-230,
o The Male Prison, pg 231-235.
• June 7, week 6, Collected Essays, Other Essays
o The American Dream and the American Negro, pg 714-719, Read this before seeing the videos.
o Video of the Baldwin Buckley Debate at Cambridge University,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFeoS41xe7w&list=PLIK5ySlgaLahAKSDtr74DUvfAo54TAlMB&index=8
o PBS video assessing the Baldwin Buckley Debate 55 years later,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRzkHgMaPL4 .
• June 14, week 7, Begin Again chapters 4 – 5, pg 85 to 145.
• June 21, week 8,
• The film I Am Not Your Negro. The film streams on Netflix and elsewhere.
• June 28, week 9, Collected Essays, from The Fire Next Time
o My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew pg 291-295,
o Down at the Cross pg 296-347.
• July 5, week 10, Collected Essays, from No Name in the Street
o To Be Baptized, and the one page epilog, pg 404-475.
• July 12, week 11, Collected Essays, from The Devil Finds Work
o Chapter 1 Congo Square, pg 479-504,
o Chapter 2 Who Saw Him Die? I, Said the Fly, pg 505-549.
• July 19. week 12, Collected Essays, Other Essays
o How One Black Man Came to be an American, pg 762-765,
o Preservation of Innocence, pg 594-600,
o Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood, pg 814-829,
o The Creative Process, pg 669-672,
o The White Man’s Guilt, pg 722-727,
o Sweet Loraine, pg 757-761.
• July 26. week 13, Collected Essays, Other Essays
o History as Nightmare, pg 579-581,
o Sermons and Blues, pg 614-615,
o On Catfish Row, pg 615-621.
o Words of a Native Son, pg 707-713,
o Negroes Are Anti-Semitic Because…,pg 739-748,
o White Racism or World Community, pg 749-756
o Lockridge: the American Myth, pg 588-593,
o The Price of the Ticket, pg 830-842,
o The Price of the Ticket video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_hYraYI2J8&list=PLIK5ySlgaLahAKSDtr74DUvfAo54TAlMB&index=6 .
• August 2, week 14, Begin Again chapters 6, 7 and Conclusion, pg 146 to 217.
1. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (2020), Begin Again, Crown, Penguin Random House LLC.
2. James Baldwin (1998), James Baldwin: Collected Essays, Library of Congress, edited by Toni Morrison.
3. Raoul Peck Director (2016), I Am Not Your Negro, based on the James Baldwin essay Remember This House (unfinished). The film streams on Netflix and elsewhere.
4. Baldwin’s interviews and discussions on film; short films to be picked for specific sessions. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIK5ySlgaLahAKSDtr74DUvfAo54TAlMB