July 2024

James   &   James

This month we're honoring two Jameses:

"Runaways?" he asked.

"We are," I said.

"Any of you named Nigger Jim?"

I pointed to each of us. "Sadie, Lizzie, Morris, Buck."

"And who are you?"

"I am James."

"James what?"

"Just James."

                    ... James by Percival Everett  (p.303)

 


"you can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a nigger."

                  ... "My Dungeon Shook" The FIre Next Time, by James Baldwin

    

James   by Percival Everett

Below are our favorites of the many current reviews of the book.  You can also watch Everett's interview on CBS Sunday Morning and read an engaging profile.

(8:45)

CBS Sunday Morning    March 24, 2024     (6:29)

James Baldwin

(1924-1987)

This centennial celebration is an opportunity to reflect on the life and work of James Baldwin. The clarity of his observations, the prescience of his warnings, and the wonder of his optimism are of critical importance today.

A few remembrances of James Baldwin


Massachusetts Review contributor David Levin noted that the author came to represent “for ‘white’ Americans, the eloquent, indignant prophet of an oppressed people, a voice speaking ... in an all but desperate, final effort to bring us out of what he calls our innocence before it is (if it is not already) too late. This voice calls us to our immediate duty for the sake of our own humanity as well as our own safety. It demands that we stop regarding the Negro as an abstraction, an invisible man; that we begin to recognize each Negro in his ‘full weight and complexity’ as a human being; that we face the horrible reality of our past and present treatment of Negroes—a reality we do not know and do not want to know.” 

 


All of these comments appeared on the Poetry Foundation site.  Read the entire, very informative, article HERE.  The David Levin article, quoted above, originally appeared HERE.

Perhaps the most telling demonstration of the results of Baldwin’s achievement came from other Black writers. Playwright Amiri Baraka in his funeral eulogy to Baldwin: “This man traveled the earth like its history and its biographer,” Baraka said. “He reported, criticized, made beautiful, analyzed, cajoled, lyricized, attacked, sang, made us think, made us better, made us consciously human. ... He made us feel ... that we could defend ourselves or define ourselves, that we were in the world not merely as animate slaves, but as terrifyingly sensitive measurers of what is good or evil, beautiful or ugly. This is the power of his spirit. This is the bond which created our love for him 

In a posthumous profile for the Washington Post, Juan Williams wrote: “The success of Baldwin’s effort as the witness is evidenced time and again by the people, black and white, gay and straight, famous and anonymous, whose humanity he unveiled in his writings. America and the literary world are far richer for his witness. The proof of a shared humanity across the divides of race, class and more is the testament that the preacher’s son, James Arthur Baldwin, has left us.”


 

 James Baldwin tells his own story in this emotional portrait. Using rarely-seen archival footage from nine different countries, the film melds intimate interviews and eloquent public speeches with cinéma vérité glimpses of Baldwin and original scenes from his extraordinary funeral service in December 1987. His close friends and colleagues — even critics — illuminate the narrative, among them writers Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, and William Styron, plus entertainer Bobby Short. James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket was originally broadcast August 14, 1989 on AMERICAN MASTERS. 90 minutes.

To watch the entire documentary click HERE


Here are two approaches for reflecting on Baldwin's life and legacy:

(30:10)

 Want More Baldwin ? 



To immerse yourself in the wonders of James Baldwin, look back at some previous pages over the life of this website. Several pages were focused exclusively on Baldwin; on others, he made an important appearance.



James Baldwin on the Website.docx

James Baldwin Interview on Florida Forum    

WCKT, Miami     1963    (25:51)

This interview was conducted as part of an ongoing conversation about racial issues. In the preceding week, Governor George Wallace had been the guest.   

Note that in 1963  Baldwin published his provocative "The Fire Next Time."