Black History Month — James Baldwin
|James Baldwin|
|Lilian Waithaka| Kenya Model United Nations
Fame tried to plague him, religion pinned him to the ground, his sexuality spat on, and his race automatically anchored him on a platform to be discriminated against. Still, none of these identities described him as he described himself, as “A witness to the truth.” This is James Baldwin, an American novelist, essayist, and playwright.
On August 2, 1924, Emma Jones, Baldwin’s mother, struggled to name her baby boy without his father’s last name. An almost prophetic scene that went on to mold and defines Baldwin’s life as he struggled to find his place in a rigged society for a black man in those times.
In his 3rd year of life, his mother married David Baldwin, who would be pivotal in fueling James to rapturous literature. His father was a Baptist minister with strong religious convictions, which consequently imposed on Baldwin, who grew up to bear a different religious perspective. With this upbringing, Baldwin was never short of courage to abrasively and eloquently narrate a narrative of sex, morality, his father, and religion, which he titled ‘Go tell it on the mountain.’ A seemingly unbefitting and provocative title initially named a religious song most of us are familiar with on morality and God.
Before he broke off to become such a voice that reverberated the uncomfortable yet necessary subject matters. Baldwin submitted to his father and echoed in his footsteps by becoming a youth minister till age 16. It is one thing to speak about what we believe in, but it takes courage to stand and speak for something your heart conflicts with, as Baldwin did in ministry work.
Like many of us, Baldwin developed a deep liking for reading and powerful skills in writing. However, unlike many of us, Baldwin cultivated this passion with Richard Avedon in their school magazine; Richard, who later became a renowned famous photographer, talked about a powerhouse connection. With life comes complications to our dreams, and this was the case for Baldwin, too, when he had to stop pursuing writing to take care of his seven younger siblings. James’ had odd jobs, struggling to make ends meet. Standing cold on dusty roads after being turned away from bars, restaurants, and promising jobs’.
One fateful day, Baldwin lost his father, which rippled to him moving out to a city in New York that crawled with artists and writers. Baldwin began to dream again, this time undeterred, angry, and with literary sophistication, rare for his age. Each of us, icons or not, all have defining moments that alter the course of our lives and open a plethora of opportunities to be our true selves. “Once I found myself on the other side of the ocean, I saw where I came from very clearly. I am the grandson of a slave and I am a writer. I must deal with both,” said Baldwin after moving to Paris, which commanded a different experience of life and reality. In his description, the move was a forced choice he had to make to avoid discrimination. Shortly after, his best friend committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.
With 40$ in his pocket, his move and friend’s death led to an unmatched fight in him to write on his reality as a black man living on a White man’s land. Such depth of change in his life eventually led to Go telling it on the mountain to be written. He admitted that writing the book was one of those things he knew he must do, even if it meant it was the only thing he would ever do. Writing the book was aggressive and tough on him as he confronted the things that hurt him the most.
For Baldwin, he ached to be a witness to the truth, but the truth comes with vulnerability, sacrifice, burning bridges, and a rawness that takes courage to face. What do you want to be remembered for? Baldwin did not stop there. He defied society’s limitations on who he could and should be and went on to write Giovanni’s Room. James lay bear a complex, well-crafted, and poignant insight over the taboo subject of homosexuality and being a Black American in Paris. He accomplished what he desired as it sparked wild controversial conversations on the matter. He kept at it with other books that fiercely explored the inner dynamics of interracial relationships, which was also unheard of in the high clarity he spoke of within that society.
Baldwin sparked raging discussions and criticism regarding these subject matters. He was a walking target in his lifestyle, as he was unrepentant in his sexuality with both genders. He spoke of sexuality as fluid and limitless, defying what America knew and embraced at that time in history. As an essayist, he produced unflinching works of the Black Experience in America, which led to him being famed and counted as one of the top writers in America. Baldwin’s works were compelling and moving in that they were deemed crucial in powering the Civil Rights Movement against race.
He did this and gave the White community a look at themselves through a Black man’s lens. He painted them a brutal yet realistic image of what it truly meant to be black in America. In the injustice and evils against the black community, Baldwin still spoke of hope, of a day that there would no longer be discrimination based on race. We owe it to ourselves and Baldwin to actualize this hope that one day we shall stand on a hill and look to the horizon, and the color of our skin, will not determine how differently we shall see the sun sipping through the clouds.
“People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them,” James Baldwin. We might believe we have escaped history, but if no substantial change against the matter of race changes, we trap ourselves in a cycle that never truly ends. Suppose nothing else about this piece moves you to be inspired by this Black icon. May his words snap you to the reality that the change we ask for is up to us, and just like Amanda Gorman eloquently stated, we have to take care of the present, for as we hope for the future, once upon a time, our past also looked to our present as its future.
Baldwin’s life unfolded in many ways, and he was the gentle shove that his friends needed to explore bigger dreams within themselves. Sometimes, all we need is a light push by the people around us to actualize the great stories trapped in us. His connection to his friend Maya Angelou led to him introducing her to Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer and his wife, Judy. They went on, to challenge Maya into writing an autobiography aside from her usual poems. At this New York City party, Maya was intrigued enough to take up the challenge and write I Know Why Caged Birds Sing. Which became one of the best-selling books that delved into slavery in a way none could. He was a remarkable black icon, in and out of his books.
As he witnessed great devastation in the Black community, including Martin Luther King’s assassination, Baldwin’s work depicted more despair and frustration in the Black community. To his very death on December 1, 1987, James Baldwin kept on writing with his unique rhetorical force and eloquence and etched his name on the skin of history.
May every blood spilled upon our soils and land not be watered down by the evils that try to detach us from our true essence as human beings. That we shall never forget our vision that crosses beyond DNA and diversity. That we shall echo the lost voices of our ancestors, the kings, and queens of empires that still impact our lives. Like James Baldwin, our choices can make the world better.
