James Baldwin 1924 – 1987

Biography

James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York, and grew up in poverty as the eldest of nine children, preaching briefly in a Pentecostal church before turning to writing. He left the United States for Paris in 1948, seeking distance from American racism, and published Go Tell It on the Mountain, Giovanni’s Room, and the essays of Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time. His work confronted race, sexuality, religion, and love with unmatched moral clarity, and he became a vital voice of the civil rights movement, marching and speaking alongside its leaders. He lived much of his later life in France, writing novels, plays, and essays until his health declined. He died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, in 1987. His essays and novels are now central to American literature courses, and his reputation has only grown since his death.