James Baldwin | Biography, Books, Novels, Essays, Plays, & The Fire Next Time

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class="topic-left-rail md-article-drawer position-relative d-flex border-right-sm border-left-sm open"> <div class="drawer d-flex flex-column open"> <div class="left-rail-section-content"> <div class="topic-left-rail-header text-truncate bg-gray-50 position-relative text-right d-flex align-items-center"> <div class="tlr-title px-20 py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin">James Baldwin</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/biography/James-Baldwin">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref373597"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/James-Baldwin#ref373597">Childhood</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref373598"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/James-Baldwin#ref373598">First writings and move to Europe</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref373599"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/James-Baldwin#ref373599">Civil rights activism and <em>The Fire Next Time</em></a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref373600"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/James-Baldwin#ref373600">Later career and honors</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref373601"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><div class="ml-25"></div><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/James-Baldwin#ref373601">Legacy</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/quotes/James-Baldwin">Quotes</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/James-Baldwin">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif 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Biography of James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/30/james-baldwin-hollywood-oscar-fbi-marlon-brando-bergman" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">The Guardian - ‘He craved an Oscar’: James Baldwin’s long campaign to crack Hollywood</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/baldwin-james-1924-1987/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">BlackPast - Biography of James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/introduction-james-baldwin" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of African American History and Culture - An Introduction to James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-film-james-baldwin-the-price-of-the-ticket/2632/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">PBS - American Masters - James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.chipublib.org/james-baldwin-biography/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Chicago Public Library - Biography of James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.myblackhistory.net/James_Baldwin.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Black History in America - James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://blackhistorynow.com/james-baldwin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">BlackHistoryNow - Biography of James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/james-baldwin" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Poetry Foundation - James Baldwin</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://poets.org/poet/james-baldwin" target="_blank" rel="noopener ">Poets.org - Biography of James Baldwin</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-title">Britannica Websites</div> <div class="md-websites-ebk-subtitle">Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.</div> <ul class="list-unstyled bps-topic-web-sites lh-lg"> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/James-Baldwin/399953" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Baldwin - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)</a></li> <li><a class="external" href="https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/James-Baldwin/273067" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Baldwin - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toc-header-marker"></div> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 d-none mr-0 mr-lg-10 ml-5 ml-sm-10 ml-lg-0 p-10 px-sm-5 px-md-10 js-header-ai-ask-button"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> <div class="caption alternate-titles">Also known as: James Arthur Baldwin</div> <div class="md-byline module-spacing "> <div class="font-serif font-12"> <span class="written-by text-gray-700"> Written by </span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/editor/rene-ostberg/12853185" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">René Ostberg</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">René Ostberg is an associate editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica covering literature, popular music, and Catholicism. </div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> René Ostberg</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 qa-editor-popup font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2025-02-13T00:00:00CST" >Feb 13, 2025</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn btn-sm border-2 btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 module-spacing js-inline-ai-ask-button p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>In full: </dt> <dd>James Arthur Baldwin</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Born: </dt> <dd>August 2, 1924, <a href="/place/New-York-City">New York</a>, <a href="/place/New-York-state">New York</a>, <a href="/place/United-States">U.S.</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>December 1, 1987, Saint-Paul de Vence, <a href="/place/France">France</a> (aged 63)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Works: </dt> <dd><a href="/topic/Another-Country-by-Baldwin">“Another Country”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Blues-for-Mister-Charlie">“Blues for Mister Charlie”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Giovannis-Room">“Giovanni’s Room”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Go-Tell-It-on-the-Mountain">“Go Tell It on the Mountain”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Going-to-Meet-the-Man">“Going to Meet the Man”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk">“If Beale Street Could Talk”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Just-Above-My-Head">“Just Above My Head”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Nobody-Knows-My-Name">“Nobody Knows My Name”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Notes-of-a-Native-Son">“Notes of a Native Son”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Tell-Me-How-Long-the-Trains-Been-Gone">“Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/The-Fire-Next-Time">“The Fire Next Time”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/The-Price-of-the-Ticket">“The Price of the Ticket”</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Role In: </dt> <dd><a href="/event/American-civil-rights-movement">American civil rights movement</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/James-Baldwin"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What is James Baldwin known for? <\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "James Baldwin wrote eloquently, thoughtfully, and passionately on the subject of race in America in novels, essays, and plays. He is perhaps best known for his books of essays, in particular <em>Notes of a Native Son<\/em> (1955), <em>Nobody Knows My Name<\/em> (1961), and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-Fire-Next-Time\">The Fire Next Time<\/a><\/em> (1963). " } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What was James Baldwin\u2019s education?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "James Baldwin grew up in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-York-City\">New York City<\/a>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Harlem-New-York\">Harlem<\/a> neighbourhood in an atmosphere of poverty and strict religious observance. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Bronx-borough-New-York-City\">Bronx<\/a> in 1942 but was otherwise self-taught." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What novels and plays did James Baldwin write?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "James Baldwin\u2019s novels included <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Go-Tell-It-on-the-Mountain\">Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/a><\/em> (1953), <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Giovannis-Room\">Giovanni\u2019s Room<\/a><\/em> (1956), <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Another-Country-by-Baldwin\">Another Country<\/a><\/em> (1962), and <em>If Beale Street Could Talk<\/em> (1974; film 2018). He wrote the plays <em>The Amen Corner<\/em> (1955) and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Blues-for-Mister-Charlie\">Blues for Mister Charlie<\/a><\/em> (1964)." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Where did James Baldwin live?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "James Baldwin lived in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-York-City\">New York City<\/a> until 1948, when he moved to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Paris\">Paris<\/a>. He returned to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/United-States\">United States<\/a> in 1957, and from 1969 he lived alternately in the south of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/France\">France<\/a> and in New York and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/New-England\">New England<\/a> in the U.S." } } ] } </script> <div class="top-questions qa-accordion d-flex flex-column module-spacing"><div class="font-weight-bold font-14 mb-5"> Top Questions </div><div id="intent-accordion" class="md-intent-accordion"><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="1"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What is James Baldwin known for? </div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>James Baldwin wrote eloquently, thoughtfully, and passionately on the subject of race in America in novels, essays, and plays. He is perhaps best known for his books of essays, in particular <em>Notes of a Native Son</em> (1955), <em>Nobody Knows My Name</em> (1961), and <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Fire-Next-Time" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">The Fire Next Time</a></em> (1963). </p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="2"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What was James Baldwin’s education?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>James Baldwin grew up in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New York City</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Harlem-New-York" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Harlem</a> neighbourhood in an atmosphere of poverty and strict religious observance. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Bronx-borough-New-York-City" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bronx</a> in 1942 but was otherwise self-taught.</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="3"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What novels and plays did James Baldwin write?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>James Baldwin’s novels included <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Go-Tell-It-on-the-Mountain" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Go Tell It on the Mountain</a></em> (1953), <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Giovannis-Room" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Giovanni’s Room</a></em> (1956), <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Another-Country-by-Baldwin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Another Country</a></em> (1962), and <em>If Beale Street Could Talk</em> (1974; film 2018). He wrote the plays <em>The Amen Corner</em> (1955) and <em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Blues-for-Mister-Charlie" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Blues for Mister Charlie</a></em> (1964).</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="4"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Where did James Baldwin live?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>James Baldwin lived in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New York City</a> until 1948, when he moved to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Paris" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Paris</a>. He returned to the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> in 1957, and from 1969 he lived alternately in the south of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">France</a> and in New York and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New England</a> in the U.S.</p></div></div></div><button class="show-more-button js-toggle-top-questions btn btn-unstyled font-14 d-flex pr-10 rounded-sm"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></button></div></div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref192313"></span>James Baldwin</strong> (born August 2, 1924, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">New York</a>, New York, U.S.—died December 1, 1987, Saint-Paul de Vence, France) was an essayist, novelist, and playwright whose eloquence and passion on the subject of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/race-human" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">race</a> in America made him one of the most important voices of the 20th century. A writer of exceptionally clear and psychologically penetrating <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="prose" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/prose" data-type="EB">prose</a>, Baldwin addressed race relations with deft complexity and incisive anger. He was also one of the first Black writers to include <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/queer-sexual-politics" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">queer</a> themes in fiction, notably in <em>Giovanni’s Room</em> (1956), writing with a frankness that was highly controversial at the time. His works include the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">novels</a> <em>Go Tell It on the Mountain</em> (1953) and <em>Another Country</em> (1962), the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/theatrical-production" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">plays</a> <em>The Amen Corner</em> (1954) and <em>Blues for Mister Charlie</em> (1964), and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/essay" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">essay</a> collections <em>Nobody Knows My Name</em> (1961) and <em>The Fire Next Time</em> (1963).</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref373597"> <h2 class="h1">Childhood</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The eldest of nine children, Baldwin grew up in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/poverty" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">poverty</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Harlem-New-York" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Harlem</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New York City</a>. He was born to a single mother, Emma Berdis Jones, who had migrated to New York from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Maryland-state" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Maryland</a>. When her son was about three years old, she married David Baldwin, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baptist" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baptist</a> minister who had moved north from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Orleans-Louisiana" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New Orleans</a>. Growing up, James Baldwin found refuge in reading books at the public <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/library" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">library</a>, and he began writing <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/poetry" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">poems</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/short-story" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">short stories</a>, and plays at a young age.</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">From age 14 to 17 Baldwin was active during out-of-school hours as a preacher in a small <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pentecostalism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pentecostal</a> church, a period he wrote about in his semiautobiographical first and finest <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/novel" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">novel</a>, <em><span id="ref192314"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Go-Tell-It-on-the-Mountain" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Go Tell It on the Mountain</a></em>, and in his play about a woman <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="evangelist" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/evangelist" data-type="EB">evangelist</a>, <em>The Amen Corner</em>. Baldwin’s preaching was the influence of his strict stepfather, with whom he had a fraught relationship. Although Baldwin abandoned preaching, that period of his life was important to his development as a writer. In an interview captured in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/documentary-film" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">documentary film</a> <em>The Price of the Ticket</em> (released posthumously in 1989), Baldwin said: “Those three years in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/pulpit" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">pulpit</a>…that is what turned me into a writer, really, dealing with all that anguish and that despair and that beauty.”</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/pop-quiz-17-things-to-know-about-the-american-civil-rights-movement" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/46/7546-050-1DB8A70E/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-civil-rights-supporters-August-1963.jpg" alt="Martin Luther King, Jr. (center), with other civil rights supporters lock arms on as they lead the way along Constitution Avenue during the March on Washington, Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963." class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights Movement</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/W-E-B-Du-Bois-on-African-American-literature-2003650" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">(Read W.E.B. Du Bois’s 1926 Britannica essay on African American literature.)</a></em></p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h3"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref373598"> <h2 class="h1">First writings and move to Europe</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After his graduation from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/high-school" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">high school</a>, Baldwin began a restless period of ill-paid jobs, self-study, and literary apprenticeship in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Greenwich-Village" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Greenwich Village</a>, the bohemian quarter of New York City. His first publications were book reviews in journals and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/magazine-publishing" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">magazines</a>. In 1944 he met <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Wright-American-writer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Richard Wright</a>, an established giant in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/American-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American literature</a>, who helped Baldwin secure a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="monetary" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monetary" data-type="MW">monetary</a> grant with which Baldwin could support himself while finishing his first novel. In the meantime, Baldwin began to publish work in prestigious periodicals. Among these was the essay “The Harlem Ghetto,” published in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Commentary-American-journal" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Commentary</em></a> in 1948, a piece on the socioeconomic conditions in his childhood neighborhood that garnered him much attention. That same year, wishing to escape the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">racism</a> of America (and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/homophobia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">homophobia</a> of Harlem), he left the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">United States</a> for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Paris" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Paris</a>, where he lived for the next eight years. (In later years, from 1969, he became a self-styled “transatlantic commuter,” living alternatively in the south of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/France" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">France</a> and in New York and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">New England</a>, with frequent long stays in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Turkey" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Turkey</a>.)</p><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="298034" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/50016/298034"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg?w=300" alt="James Baldwin" data-width="322" data-height="450" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg" data-href="/media/1/50016/298034">James Baldwin</a><span>James Baldwin, 1953.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">While living in Paris, Baldwin published “Everybody’s Protest Novel” (1949), an essay that <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="critiqued" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/critiqued" data-type="MW">critiqued</a> Wright’s celebrated work <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-Son" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Native Son</em></a> (1940), comparing it unfavorably to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harriet-Beecher-Stowe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Harriet Beecher Stowe</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/abolitionism-European-and-American-social-movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">abolitionist</a> novel of 1852, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Uncle-Toms-Cabin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Uncle Tom’s Cabin</em></a>. It was the first of several harsh and controversial <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="critiques" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/critiques" data-type="MW">critiques</a> of his former mentor’s writing that Baldwin published over the course of his career. In 1952, while living in a small village in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Alps" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Swiss Alps</a> with his lover, the painter Lucien Happersberger, Baldwin completed <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Go-Tell-It-on-the-Mountain" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Go Tell It on the Mountain</em></a>, which was published to positive reviews a year later. In 1955 came Baldwin’s first collection of essays, <em>Notes of a Native Son</em>, which includes cultural commentary on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">literature</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/film" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">film</a>, a haunting <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/memoir-historical-genre" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">memoir</a> of his stepfather’s life and death, and pieces on the experience of being an African American expatriate in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Europe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Europe</a>. That same year his first play, <em>The Amen Corner</em>, was produced for the stage at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Howard-University" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Howard University</a>. (Its <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Broadway-street-and-district-New-York-City" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Broadway</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="debut" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/debut" data-type="EB">debut</a> came in 1965.) Baldwin’s second novel, <span id="ref192315"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Giovannis-Room" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Giovanni’s Room</em></a>, was dedicated to Happersberger. The book deals with the white world and concerns an American in Paris who is torn between his love for a man and his love for a woman. Because of its theme of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/homosexuality" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">homosexuality</a>, the book was rejected by Knopf, the publisher of Baldwin’s first novel, before being accepted by Dial Press.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h4"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref373599"> <h2 class="h1">Civil rights activism and <em>The Fire Next Time</em></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1957 Baldwin returned to the United States and became an active participant in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/civil-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">civil rights</a> struggle, touring <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/the-South-region" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">the South</a> and eventually befriending the movement’s leaders, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Martin Luther King, Jr.</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Medgar-Evers" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Medgar Evers</a>. In 1961 Baldwin published another book of essays, <em><span id="ref192316"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nobody-Knows-My-Name" class="md-crosslink ">Nobody Knows My Name</a></em>, which explores topics such as Southern society in the fiction of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Faulkner" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">William Faulkner</a>, sexual identity in the work of French writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Gide" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">André Gide</a>, and the films of Swedish director <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ingmar-Bergman" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ingmar Bergman</a>. The theme of Black-white relations in the United States was central to his novel <span id="ref192317"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Another-Country-by-Baldwin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Another Country</em></a> (1962), which examines sexual as well as racial issues in a storyline that involves <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/miscegenation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">interracial relationships</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/bisexuality-human-behavior" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">bisexuality</a>.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=august-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><em><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Monuments-of-Hope-Memorials-to-a-Poisoned-Past-2119662" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">(Read Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s Britannica essay on “Monuments of Hope.”)</a></em></p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-New-Yorker" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The New Yorker</em></a> magazine gave over almost all of its November 17, 1962, issue to a long article by Baldwin on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nation-of-Islam" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Black Muslim separatist movement</a> and other aspects of the civil rights struggle. The article, along with a letter to his nephew that was published in <em>The Progressive</em> to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="commemorate" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commemorate" data-type="MW">commemorate</a> the 100th anniversary of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Emancipation-Proclamation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Emancipation Proclamation</a>, became a bestseller in book form as <span id="ref192318"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Fire-Next-Time" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Fire Next Time</em></a> (1963). An explosive work of profound social influence, <em>The Fire Next Time</em> was an urgent warning to white Americans about the consequences of their oppression of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-American" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">African Americans</a>. Taking its title from a Black <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/spiritual" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">spiritual</a>, the essay closed in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/prophecy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">prophetic</a> terms:</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <blockquote> <p>If we—and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks, who must, like lovers, insist on, or create, the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="consciousness" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/consciousness" data-type="MW">consciousness</a> of the others—do not falter in our duty now, we may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare, and achieve our <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/nation-state" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">country</a>, and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bible" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Bible</a> in song by a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/slavery-sociology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">slave</a>, is upon us: <em>God gave <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noah" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Noah</a> the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!</em></p> </blockquote> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Throughout 1963 Baldwin was heavily involved in the civil rights movement. With a group of other artists, he met with U.S. Attorney General <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-F-Kennedy" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Robert F. Kennedy</a> in an attempt to open a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="dialogue" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dialogue" data-type="MW">dialogue</a> between the government and activists. (The meeting ended in rancorous disappointment.) He also led a march in Paris in support of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">American civil rights movement</a>, and he participated in the historic <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/March-on-Washington" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">March on Washington</a> on August 28, although he was not invited to speak at the latter event because, according to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/black-nationalism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Black Nationalist</a> leader <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Malcolm-X" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Malcolm X</a> (who was a friend of Baldwin’s), “They wouldn’t let Baldwin get up there because they know Baldwin is liable to say anything.”</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="298036" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/254208-050-89A0740B/James-Baldwin-author-speaks-crowd-Selma-to-Montgomery-March-Alabama-1965.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/50016/298036"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/254208-050-89A0740B/James-Baldwin-author-speaks-crowd-Selma-to-Montgomery-March-Alabama-1965.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/254208-050-89A0740B/James-Baldwin-author-speaks-crowd-Selma-to-Montgomery-March-Alabama-1965.jpg?w=300" alt="James Baldwin at the Selma March" data-width="1600" data-height="847" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/254208-050-89A0740B/James-Baldwin-author-speaks-crowd-Selma-to-Montgomery-March-Alabama-1965.jpg" data-href="/media/1/50016/298036">James Baldwin at the Selma March</a><span>Author James Baldwin (center) addressing a crowd after participating in the Selma March in Alabama in support of African Americans' voting rights, March 1965.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">The following year Baldwin published a protest play about racist oppression, <span id="ref192319"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Blues-for-Mister-Charlie" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Blues for Mister Charlie</em></a> (“Mister Charlie” being a Black term for a white man). Loosely based on the murder in 1955 of African American teenager <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emmett-Till" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Emmett Till</a> by two white men, <em>Blues for Mister Charlie</em> played on Broadway to mixed reviews. In 1965 Baldwin published his first collection of short stories, <em><span id="ref1294176"></span>Going to Meet the Man</em>. In March that year, he participated in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Selma-March" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Selma March</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Alabama-state" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Alabama</a>, a civil rights march from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Selma" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Selma</a> to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Montgomery-Alabama" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Montgomery</a> that was led by King in support of African Americans’ <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/voting-rights" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">voting rights</a> in the state.</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h5"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref373600"> <h2 class="h1">Later career and honors</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A magnetic and passionate speaker, Baldwin was often invited to appear on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/television-technology" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">television</a> to discuss the civil rights movement. In 1965 he participated in a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/debate" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">debate</a> at the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Cambridge" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">University of Cambridge</a> in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/England" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">England</a> with <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a> writer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-F-Buckley-Jr" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">William F. Buckley, Jr.</a>, on the topic “The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/American-Dream" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">American Dream</a>: Is it at the expense of the American Negro?” One of the most memorable comments he made during the debate was on the clash between white European and American “systems of reality” and the formation of African American identity:</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <blockquote> <p>It comes as a great shock, around the age of five or six or seven, to discover that the flag to which you’ve <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Pledge-of-Allegiance-to-the-Flag-of-the-United-States-of-America" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">pledged allegiance</a>, along with everybody else, has not pledged <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="allegiance" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allegiance" data-type="MW">allegiance</a> to you. It comes as a great shock to discover that [actor] <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gary-Cooper" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Gary Cooper</a> killing off the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Native-American" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Indians</a> [in movies], when you were rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians were you. It comes as a great shock to discover the country which is your birthplace and to which you owe your life and your identity has not in its whole system of reality evolved any place for you.</p> </blockquote> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After speaking, Baldwin received a one-minute-long standing ovation from the audience. (Buckley’s speech was not met with the same reaction.)</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1968 Baldwin agreed to write the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/screenplay" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">screenplay</a> for a film <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="adaptation" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adaptation" data-type="MW">adaptation</a> of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alex-Haley" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Alex Haley</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Autobiography-of-Malcolm-X" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Autobiography of Malcolm X</em></a> (1965). Malcolm X had been assassinated in 1965. After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-Martin-Luther-King-Jr" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">assassination of King</a> in April 1968, however, Baldwin resigned from working on the script. (He eventually published the workings of the screenplay as a book in 1972.) Baldwin also published the novels <em><span id="ref1294177"></span>Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone</em> (1968), <em><span id="ref1294178"></span>If Beale Street Could Talk</em> (1974), and <em><span id="ref1294179"></span>Just Above My Head</em> (1979) as well as a collection of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/autobiography-literature" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">autobiographical</a> writings, <em><span id="ref1294180"></span>The Price of the Ticket</em> (1985). Yet none of his later works achieved the popular and critical success of his early work, and he struggled to drum up publishers’ interest in some of his later writings. He was the subject of ostracism by more-radical Black leaders and writers of the 1960s and ’70s, such as the activist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eldridge-Cleaver" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Eldridge Cleaver</a> and the poet and playwright <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amiri-Baraka" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Amiri Baraka</a>, who objected to Baldwin’s more-<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/pacifism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">pacifist</a> views. (Cleaver’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="criticism" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/criticism" data-type="MW">criticism</a> of Baldwin also contained statements that were outright <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/homophobia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">homophobic</a>.)</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In the 1970s and ’80s Baldwin taught and lectured at numerous American universities, including the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-California" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">University of California</a> at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Berkeley-California" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Berkeley</a>, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/University-of-Massachusetts" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">University of Massachusetts</a> at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Amherst-Massachusetts" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Amherst</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mount-Holyoke-College" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mount Holyoke College</a>. During his career he was the recipient of Guggenheim (1954) and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ford-Foundation" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ford Foundation</a> (1958) fellowships and the George Polk Award for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/journalism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">journalism</a> (1963), and he was accepted into the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Legion-of-Honour" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Legion of Honour</a> (1986), France’s most prestigious order. He died at age 63 of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/stomach-cancer" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">stomach cancer</a> while at his home in the south of France.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="marker h6"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref373601"> <h2 class="h1">Legacy</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">After Baldwin’s death in 1987, his work continued to influence new writers and thinkers. His writing on racial and social issues came to the foreground in the 21st century, in particular, with the rise of activist groups such as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Lives-Matter" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Black Lives Matter</a> (BLM), an international <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/social-movement" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">social movement</a> that formed in the United States in 2013 to fight <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/racism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">racism</a> and anti-Black violence, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/police-brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">police brutality</a>. Baldwin was also embraced by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-and-queer-community" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">LGBTQ</a> activists and writers for his pioneering exploration of sexual identity and queer relationships in his work. Numerous books and documentaries have emerged that pay homage to Baldwin and provide further <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="context" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context" data-type="MW">context</a> on the impact of his life and career.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD19 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="298037" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/217702-050-C5D16730/Movie-still-If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk-Kiki-Layne-Stephen-James-2018.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/50016/298037"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/217702-050-C5D16730/Movie-still-If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk-Kiki-Layne-Stephen-James-2018.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/217702-050-C5D16730/Movie-still-If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk-Kiki-Layne-Stephen-James-2018.jpg?w=300" alt="If Beale Street Could Talk" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/217702-050-C5D16730/Movie-still-If-Beale-Street-Could-Talk-Kiki-Layne-Stephen-James-2018.jpg" data-href="/media/1/50016/298037"><em>If Beale Street Could Talk</em></a><span>KiKi Layne (left) and Stephan James in a scene from the 2018 film <em>If Beale Street Could Talk</em>, directed and written by Barry Jenkins and based on James Baldwin's 1974 novel.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">In 2015 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ta-Nehisi-Coates" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Ta-Nehisi Coates</a>’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/National-Book-Award" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">National Book Award</a>-winning <em>Between the World and Me</em>, which takes the form of a letter written to Coates’s son, was directly inspired by Baldwin’s letter to his nephew in <em>The Fire Next Time</em>. In 2016 Baldwin was the subject of an <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Academy-Award" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Oscar</a>-nominated documentary by director Raoul Peck, <em>I Am Not Your Negro</em>. The film mixed archival footage of the civil rights movement with contemporary footage of the BLM movement and included historical interviews with Baldwin. Its script was taken from an unfinished memoir by Baldwin, <em>Remember This House</em>, which <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="recounted" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/recounted" data-type="EB">recounted</a> his friendships with the assassinated civil rights leaders <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Medgar-Evers" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Medgar Evers</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Malcolm-X" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Malcolm X</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther-King-Jr" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Martin Luther King, Jr.</a> Also in 2016 the novelist and memoirist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesmyn-Ward" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jesmyn Ward</a> edited <em>The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race</em>, a collection of essays and poems by prominent African American writers, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isabel-Wilkerson" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Isabel Wilkerson</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edwidge-Danticat" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Edwidge Danticat</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudia-Rankine" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Claudia Rankine</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kevin-Young" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Kevin Young</a>. Baldwin’s fiction and plays were also the focus of renewed attention, including his 1974 novel of two teenage lovers in Harlem, <em>If Beale Street Could Talk</em>. It was made into a feature film of the same name in 2018 by acclaimed director <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Barry-Jenkins" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Barry Jenkins</a>, whose Oscar-winning LGBTQ coming-of-age film <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moonlight-2016-film" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Moonlight</em></a> (2016) Jenkins once described as “sort of the child of <em>Giovanni’s Room</em> and <em>The Fire Next Time</em>.”</p><span class="marker MOD19 mod-inline"></span> </section> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/editor/rene-ostberg/12853185">René Ostberg</a></span> <span class="md-signature font-12"><a href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</a></span><span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-simplify-root"></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":50016,"pageLength":1869,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_LARGE","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":true} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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James Baldwin | Biography, Books, Novels, Essays, Plays, & The Fire Next Time | Britannica