James Baldwin Activist
🔞 ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
James Baldwin Activist
Get the latest information about timed passes and tips for planning your visit
Plan Your Visit
Group Visits
Frequently Asked Questions
Accessibility Options
Sweet Home Café
Museum Store
Museum Maps
Our Mobile App
Search the collection and explore our exhibitions, centers, and digital initiatives
Search the Collection
Exhibitions
Stories
Initiatives
Museum Centers
Publications
Digital Resource Guide
The Searchable Museum (link is external)
Online resources for educators, students, and families
Educators
Students
Adults
Early Childhood
Library
Talking About Race
Digital Learning
Engage with us and support the Museum from wherever you are
Strategic Partnerships
Ways to Give
Volunteer
Internships & Fellowships
Contact
Find our upcoming and past public and educational programs
Today at the Museum
Upcoming Events
Ongoing Tours & Activities
Past Events
Host an Event at NMAAHC
Learn more about the Museum and view recent news
About the Museum
The Building
Leadership
Meet Our Curators
Founding Donors
Corporate Leadership Councils
Newsroom
NMAAHC Annual Reports
Gift of Alan Bell, © BLK Publishing Company, Inc.
Email powered by Blackbaud
Privacy (link is external) |
Terms of Use (link is external)
Become a Member
Make a Donation
2017 Webby Award - People's Choice Award
James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a writer and civil rights activist who is best known for his semi-autobiographical novels and plays that center on race, politics, and sexuality.
James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York, in 1924. He was reared by his mother and stepfather David Baldwin, a Baptist preacher, originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. During his early teen years, Baldwin attended Frederick Douglass Junior High School, where he met his French teacher and mentor Countee Cullen, who achieved prominence as a poet of the Harlem Renaissance. Baldwin went on to DeWitt Clinton High School, where he edited the school newspaper Magpie and participated in the literary club.
In 1948, feeling stifled creatively because of the racial discrimination in America, Baldwin traveled to Europe to create what were later acclaimed as masterpieces to the American literature canon. While living in Paris, Baldwin was able to separate himself from American segregated society and better write about his experience in the culture that was prevalent in America. Baldwin took part in the Civil Rights Movement, becoming close friends with Medgar Evers, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, and Lorraine Hansberry. The deaths of many of these friends influenced his novels and plays and his writing about race relations in America.
Cover of BLK magazine featyring an image of James Baldwin.
Baldwin’s works helped to raise public awareness of racial and sexual oppression. His honest portrayal of his personal experiences in a national context challenged America to uphold the values it promised on equality and justice. He explored these topics in such works as Go Tell It on the Mountain , Notes of a Native Son, The Fire Next Time, Giovanni’s Room, If Beale Street Could Talk , and Another Country . Baldwin firmly believed sexuality was fluid and should not be divided into strict categories, an idea that would not be acceptable until modern day. Through his popularity and writings produced at home and abroad, Baldwin contributed as an agent of change to the artistic and intellectual traditions in American society.
Baldwin remained an outspoken observer of race relations in American culture. He would branch out into other forms of creative expression, writing poetry and screenplays, including treatments for the Autobiography of Malcolm X that later inspired Spike Lee’s feature film, Malcolm X . He also spent years as a college professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Hampshire College. Baldwin died at this home in St. Paul de Vence, France, on December 1, 1987, of stomach cancer at age 63. Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript Remember This House was the subject of the critically acclaimed 2016 Raoul Peck film, I Am Not Your Negro.
Browse
Search
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
On This Day in History
Quizzes
Podcasts
Dictionary
Biographies
Summaries
Top Questions
Week In Review
Infographics
Demystified
Lists
#WTFact
Companions
Image Galleries
Spotlight
The Forum
One Good Fact
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Geography & Travel
Health & Medicine
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Literature
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
Science
Sports & Recreation
Technology
Visual Arts
World History
Britannica Classics Check out these retro videos from Encyclopedia Britannica’s archives.
Britannica Explains In these videos, Britannica explains a variety of topics and answers frequently asked questions.
Demystified Videos In Demystified, Britannica has all the answers to your burning questions.
#WTFact Videos In #WTFact Britannica shares some of the most bizarre facts we can find.
This Time in History In these videos, find out what happened this month (or any month!) in history.
Buying Guide Expert buying advice. From tech to household and wellness products.
Student Portal Britannica is the ultimate student resource for key school subjects like history, government, literature, and more.
COVID-19 Portal While this global health crisis continues to evolve, it can be useful to look to past pandemics to better understand how to respond today.
100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning. Go ahead. Ask. We won’t mind.
Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century. Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them!
SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.
Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Feedback Type
Select a type (Required)
Factual Correction
Spelling/Grammar Correction
Link Correction
Additional Information
Other
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Alternate titles: James Arthur Baldwin
By
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
•
Edit History
Born:
August 2, 1924
New York City
New York
... (Show more)
Died:
December 1, 1987 (aged 63)
France
... (Show more)
Notable Works:
“Another Country”
“Blues for Mister Charlie”
“Giovanni’s Room”
“Go Tell It on the Mountain”
“Going to Meet the Man”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Just Above My Head”
“Nobody Knows My Name”
“Notes of a Native Son”
“Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone”
“The Fire Next Time”
“The Price of the Ticket”
... (Show more)
Role In:
American civil rights movement
... (Show more)
What was James Baldwin’s education?
What novels and plays did James Baldwin write?
Literary Favorites: Fact or Fiction?
Love literature? This quiz sorts out the truth about beloved authors and stories, old and new.
Scientists believe fossilized skulls of elephant relatives found by ancient Greeks were the basis for the mythological Cyclops.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
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 Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963).
James Baldwin grew up in New York City ’s Harlem neighbourhood in an atmosphere of poverty and strict religious observance. He graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1942 but was otherwise self-taught.
James Baldwin’s novels included Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), Giovanni’s Room (1956), Another Country (1962), and If Beale Street Could Talk (1974; film 2018). He wrote the plays The Amen Corner (1955) and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964).
James Baldwin lived in New York Cit
Trannyx
Human Foot Stool
Gabi Gold Nude