James Arthur Baldwin authored plays and poems in society.
He came as the eldest of nine children; his stepfather served as a minister. At 14 years of age in 1938, Baldwin preached at the small fireside Pentecostal church in Harlem. From religion in the early 1940s, he transferred his faith to literature with the still evident impassioned cadences of black churches. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in the south of France but often returned to the United States of America to lecture or to teach.
In his Giovanni's Room, a white American expatriate must come to terms with his homosexuality. In 1957, he began spending half of each year in city of New York.
James Baldwin offered a vital literary voice during the era of civil rights activism in the 1950s and 1960s. He first partially autobiographically accounted his youth. His influential Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Next Time informed a large white audience. Another Country talks about gay sexual tensions among intellectuals of New York. Segments of the black nationalist community savaged his gay themes. Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers stated the Baldwin displayed an "agonizing, total hatred of blacks." People produced Blues for Mister Charlie, play of Baldwin, in 1964. Huey Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, defended Baldwin.
If Beale Street Could Talk Reading this story for the 2nd time allowed me to read deeper into this nicely written love story. Fonny & Tish's love for each other was felt throughout. Tish's family & their ability to do everything within their power, to assist with what was needed to help Fonny was amazing. While this story was written many years ago, the situation was one that is still happening today. Mr. Baldwin's powerful writing with this story had me feeling many emotions at this same time-happy for the relationship & sad for their situation. Now that a motion picture has been developed for this story, I am definitely planning to view this book on the screen
I was able to get through Go Tell it on the Mountain because of the backstory's that were incorporated with all the religion talk.
The Fire Next Time didn't strike me as memorable.
If Beale Street Could Talk struck a chord with me for many reasons. Mostly because it is sad to know that this story could have just as easily been written last year than in the '60's, but even more chilling that given the state of the system nowadays, those that are prejudiced against non-white people don't even have to put that much effort into framing them, they just pull out their gun and shoot them.
Honestly, while I see the value of this approach, and it's very literary, complex and amazing, because it's Baldwin...I gotta say I prefer If Beale Street Could Talk. I like the emotional novel format over the oratorical, stream of consciousness interiority that this book has. In other words, I loved it, but the first Baldwin novel I read was much more pleasurable to read.