James Baldwin

James Baldwin was born in 1924 in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood and grew up there in poverty. In his novels, essays, and plays, he often explored racial tensions in the U.S. and strove to illuminate the African American experience. He died in 1978.

The Dog-Eared Page

excerpted from
Sonny’s Blues

Then Creole stepped forward to remind them that what they were playing was the blues. He hit something in all of them, he hit something in me, myself, and the music tightened and deepened, apprehension began to beat the air. Creole began to tell us what the blues were all about.

March 2011
The Dog-Eared Page

excerpted from
My Dungeon Shook

Letter To My Nephew On The One Hundredth Anniversary Of The Emancipation

You know, and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon. We cannot be free until they are free.

July 2009
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