James Baldwin (writer)

James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 - December 1, 1987) was an African-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist, probably best known for his novel Go Tell it on the Mountain.

Life and Career

Most of Baldwin's work deals with racial and sexual issues in the mid-20th century United States. His work is notable for the personal way in which he explored questions of identity and meaning. His novels mine complex social and psychological pressures related to being black and homosexual, well before the social, cultural or political equality of these groups could be assumed.

Related Topics:
Racial - Sexual - 20th century - United States - Homosexual

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Baldwin was born in New York's Harlem neighborhood in 1924, the first of his mother's nine children. He never met his biological father and may never have even known the man's identity. Instead, he considered his stepfather, David Baldwin, his only father figure. David, a factory worker and a store-front preacher, was allegedly very cruel at home, which the young Baldwin hated. His father opposed his literary aspirations but he found support from a white teacher as well the mayor of New York City, Fiorello H. LaGuardia. His most important support came from his idol Richard Wright, whom he called "the greatest black writer in the world for me". Wright helped him to secure the Eugene F. Saxon Memorial Award. Wright and Baldwin became friends for a short time. Baldwin titled a collection of essays Notes of a Native Son, in clear reference to Wright's enraged and despairing novel Native Son. However, Baldwin's 1949 essay "Everybody's Protest Novel" ended the two authors' friendship because Baldwin asserted that Wright's novel Native Son, like Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, lacked credible characters and psychological complexity.

Related Topics:
Preacher - New York City - Fiorello H. LaGuardia - Richard Wright - Eugene F. Saxon - Notes of a Native Son - Native Son - 1949 - Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin

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Baldwin, like many American authors of the time, left to live in Europe for an extended period of time beginning in 1948. His first destination was Paris where he followed in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Wright, and many others. When Baldwin returned to America, he became actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement. He marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. to Washington, D.C.

Related Topics:
1948 - Paris - Ernest Hemingway - Gertrude Stein - F. Scott Fitzgerald - Civil Rights Movement - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Washington, D.C.

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Baldwin was a member of the Five Colleges (Massachusetts) faculty in the early 1980s. While there, he mentored Mount Holyoke College undergrad Suzan-Lori Parks. Baldwin died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 63.

Related Topics:
Five Colleges (Massachusetts) - Mount Holyoke College - Suzan-Lori Parks

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