BALDWIN, James

  • Era: 1924 - 1987
  • Location: United States
  • Categories: LITERATURE

 

American novelist known for his vivid expression of what it means to be black and gay in a small-minded society. His life was spent in successive decades in Haarlem and Greenwich Village in New York and latterly the South of France. It included close friendship with well-known artists, musicians and film stars, as well as political activists. Civil rights and anti-war concerns exercised him greatly and in his perpetual and passionate searchings he continually drew on the black Pentecostal experience of his early years. It informed the moral conviction he used to repudiate a loveless version of white Christianity.

Life

Life of James Baldwin from Biography.com

James Baldwin photographs and papers

Writings

Go Tell it on the Mountain

The Fire Next Time

Video

Baldwin's Speech at Cambridge (8 mins)