Celebrating James Baldwin at Ninety-nine – MUP’s Guide to the Activist and Writer

Celebrating James Baldwin at Ninety-nine – MUP’s Guide to the Activist and Writer

Posted by rhiandavies - Wednesday, 2 Aug 2023

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I suspect, though I certainly cannot prove it, that every life moves full circle – toward revelation. You begin to see, and even rejoice to see, what you always saw

James Baldwin, Every Good-Bye Ain’t Gone 1977. 

Who could better explain the importance of revisiting and rereading works than James Baldwin himself? Today, 35 years after his death, James Baldwin’s voice is as pre-eminent as ever.  

Who was James Baldwin?

James Baldwin is often characterized as an outsider, in both the civil rights movement and in American society (living in self-determined exile for most of his life). He was born in 1924, came from a low-income family in Harlem, began writing aged seven, and was determined to become a writer.  He was Black and bisexual in a time where both categorisations faced legal discrimination and faced homophobia and racism throughout his lifetime. 

James Baldwin passport images with travel stamps
Baldwin spent most of his adult life outside of the United States. Image credit: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/home-and-abroad#

What did Baldwin write about?

Baldwin’s turbulent life and unapologetic bisexuality are reflected in his works where the diverse protagonists consistently attempt to reconcile and accept facets of the self and their identity. True to his principles, Baldwin left America aged 24, fed up and unable to work in a climate of racialised violence, characteristic of his everyday experience in the United States. Yet he later returned to witness and chronicle the burgeoning civil rights movement, in the face of blatant homophobia. 

James Baldwin can be described as difficult to simplify, in his infinite empathy, eloquence and uncompromising prose. He is characterised by a markedly humanistic approach to storytelling which encouraged integration, emphasising the constructed nature of ‘Black’ and ‘white’ as categories. Yet, Baldwin also acknowledged that these categories are lived and dangerous realities for Black people, even though they are political constructions enforced by institutions. His work outlines the fraudulent nature of American identity, an idea that retains potency today. 

Why is he so relevant today?

Since his death in 1987 sales of Baldwin’s work have remained stable, increasing in the last ten years. Evidently, his work retains potency: I Am Not Your Negro, Baldwin’s unfinished masterpiece was made into a film in 2017. The book and film of the same name chronicles the lives and murders of his friends: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Medgar Evers. Furthermore, his novels such as Notes of a Native Son, Another Country and The Fire Next Time have retained their position in the literary sphere. 

Baldwin’s ideas and voice were too-often neglected by his contemporaries as he refused to accept binary and opposing ideas of race and sexuality. Yet, this less rigid categorisation of identity is perhaps the reason Baldwin’s words are so pertinent today. His fearless portrayal of bisexuality and the impacts of racism, alongside his concise, eloquent and searing prose style have confirmed his place as a defining voice of the twentieth century. The Guardian ranked Notes of a Native Son in their top 30 nonfiction books of all time. His honesty and commitment to his role as a ‘witness’ mean his works are returned to, time and time again. The accessibility of his language and storytelling crystallises what it means to be a Black man in America. 

James Baldwin addressing a crowd at a rally in lower Manhattan at a rally to mourn six Black children murdered in Birmingham the previous Sunday. Image credit: Photograph by Morris Warman. https://publicseminar.org/essays/nonviolence-black-power-and-the-citizens-of-pompeii-james-baldwins-1968/

The ninth volume of the James Baldwin Review:

The James Baldwin Review (which MUP is publishing in September) aims to update and circulate the recent scholarship on James Baldwin. Each annual volume revisits explorations of the literary, political, and cultural influence of Baldwin’s writing and political activism deepening our understanding and appreciation of this luminary figure. 

The James Baldwin Review pays tribute to an extraordinary and complex man.  

The James Baldwin Review is free to access on manchesterhive, which turns five this year. With our open access content on manchesterhive, MUP helps promote social responsibility and education, circulating academic articles to all. Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming volume of the journal this September.  

Find the James Baldwin Review here.

Written by Annabel Holland, intern at Manchester University Press 

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