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| Tribute to James Baldwin |
James Baldwin's Grand Tour
In 2001, PEN sponsored a Twentieth-Century Masters Tribute to James Baldwin, excerpts of which were printing in PEN America 2: Home & Away.
Hilton Als: Family Secrets
Four years ago, shortly after I had begun thinking about the life and
work of James Baldwin, who has been dead for fourteen years now, Dr.
Betty Shabazz, widow of the martyred political leader Malcolm X, lay in
critical condition at the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, 80
percent of her body covered in burns. >> More
Chinua Achebe: The Day I Finally Met Baldwin
I wanted very much to meet this man with the fearlessness of Old
Testament prophets and the clarity, eloquence, and intelligence of
ancient African griots. >> More
Russell Banks: To Change the World
Though I never met James Baldwin in person, and never even saw him at a
public event, he is nonetheless to me like a father, or a beloved
uncle, or mentor. That is to say, he is in my mind nearly every day,
for the very simple reason that he was instrumental in creating my mind. >> More
Amiri Baraka: Our Man Jimmy
The grandness of Baldwin’s written prosody was of speech made into text
so that the spirit of the written word conveys the moving life of the
speaker. >> More
Nikki Giovanni: Making James Baldwin
What does this mean . . . Countee Cullen taught you in junior high . .
. in Harlem . . . with that great history of renaissance but only
Langston remained . . . what does it mean when you know you really
don’t want to deliver packages or be some sort of clerk in a back room
somewhere way downtown . . . >> More
David Leeming: The White Problem
"It's
not the Negro problem," he said to a sincere student questioner after a
Harvard speech, "it's the white problem. I'm only black because you
<I>think</i> you're white. You're the nigger, baby." >> More
Eleanor Traylor: On Solid Ground
When I first met the wide smile of James Baldwin face to face, I just
burst into tears. In less than a heartbeat, he opened his arms as wide
as his smile. And as he held me close and hard, he said, “And what have
I done to deserve all this?” >> More
John Edgar Wideman: With Fire and Bare Hands
James Baldwin bequethed to me—and to you—a language and a mission. >> More
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