Today’s blog was written by Kaitlin Rogers, Archives Technician at the National Archives at College Park
“The Most Dangerous Creation of Any Society is the Man Who has Nothing to Lose.” ~James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York. His mother Emma Berdis Jones married David Baldwin when Baldwin was three years old. He was the eldest of nine children, and even in his early years, he had a proclivity for writing and communicating. He enjoyed reading books from the public library and wrote for his high school’s magazine. In junior high school, Baldwin was taught by Countee Cullen, the famed Harlem Renaissance poet. His step-father was a Baptist preacher, and from age fourteen to seventeen, Baldwin also preached after school at a Pentecostal Church. In an interview later in life, Baldwin admitted that his years preaching were developmental in finding his writing voice.
After Baldwin graduated high school, his stepfather passed away. Instead of pursuing his dream of attending college, Baldwin worked several odd jobs in order to help support his family. He dedicated many hours to writing during this period and started publishing book reviews and small articles in magazines and newspapers. He met Richard Wright in 1944, who mentored and helped him secure a grant to finish his first novel. Baldwin continued to publish articles while working on the book and in 1948, decided to move to France to escape the racism and homophobia of the United States.
In Paris, Baldwin met his partner Luciene Happersberger, who was a painter. During this time his writing career took off. In 1953, he published his first novel Go Tell It On The Mountain, followed by his first play in 1954, The Amen Corner, and in 1955, he published Notes of a Native Son, a collection of essays that spoke about race in the US and in Europe. A year later, Baldwin published his second novel Giovanni’s Room, a seminal work about a young American man coming to terms with his sexuality.
Baldwin returned to the US in 1957, and lived a nomadic lifestyle between the two countries for many years. He returned to participate in the Civil Rights movement and went on a tour through the South, forming relationships with many movement leaders such as Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr. He published his second collection of essays titled Nobody Knows My Name in 1961, and in 1962, he published Another Country. Baldwin participated in the March on Washington in 1963, and the March to Selma in 1965. Baldwin was a fierce orator and was often invited to speak on television shows about race in the United States. His most notable speaking engagement was a debate at Cambridge University in 1965, against conservative author William Buckley Jr., in which Baldwin received a standing ovation for his speech.
As the Civil Rights movement evolved in the 1970s, Baldwin continued to write, speak, and teach at several universities. He published If Beale Street Could Talk in 1974, Just Above My Head in 1979, The Price of the Ticket in 1985, and Harlem Quartet in 1986. James Baldwin died of Lung Cancer at the age of 63 in his home in southern France. Over the course of his lifetime, Baldwin was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Fellowship, the George Polk Award for Journalism, and France’s Legion of Honor. He is considered one of the preeminent cultural critics of the 20th century United States and is still revered by authors and activists today for his writings on race and sexuality.
The National Archives hold several documents, photographs, and audiovisual recordings on James Baldwin. Most of these items relate to his work as a writer, social critic, and activist. Below are a few selections:
- RG 286 The Black Contribution: Literature and Theatre – Part IV (NAID 2736889)
- RG 306 Hollywood Roundtable (NAID 48331)
- RG 490 The Negro and the American Promise: With Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Minister Malcolm X (NAID 88587)
- John R. Hickman Audio Collection The Militant Mood: A Gallery of Black Activists Reviews the Civil Rights Decade (NAID 2812558)
- National Broadcasting Company, Inc., Collection Crisis in the Nation: White Racism: Frontiers of Faith (NAID 98513)
Additional information about James Baldwin can be found on the Rediscovering Black History Blog. Below are a few selections:
- “Remembering 1963 Through NARA Records” by Tina Ligon
- “2021 Black History Basic Training, Week 1” by Netisha Currie
- “An American Original Inducted into the French Pantheon – Josephine Baker” by Netisha Currie