A century after his birth, writer and activist James Baldwin is everywhere
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Ken Makin Cultural commentator
On his 100th birthday, James Baldwin has become a ubiquitous figure. His face will pop up in documentaries, podcasts, books 鈥� and beyond those curated commentaries, incarnations on social media. No matter the outlet, though, his words are illuminating, intellectual. They are shards from a sharp-tongued swordsman.听
The late writer has many faces: writer, radical, civil rights activist, orator, a queer man and advocate for gay rights. He is, above all else, remarkably human. His face is beautifully worn. He is confident, he is anxious, he is loving, sitting across from a dear friend, poet Nikki Giovanni.
Baldwin, who was born in Harlem on Aug. 2, 1924, came to embody that storied neighborhood more than any writer since Langston Hughes. His works, which accompanied the rise of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, continue to influence writers and activists to this day.
Why We Wrote This
On James Baldwin鈥檚 100th birthday, his works, which accompanied the rise of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, continue to influence writers and activists to this day.
Two weeks before Baldwin鈥檚 birthday, I come across a book I鈥檝e read a number of times, and I buy it again like it鈥檚 the first 鈥� 鈥淭he Fire Next Time.鈥�
The book will haunt me a bit this time, because it is penned to Baldwin鈥檚 namesake, which is also the name of my maternal grandfather and my brother, both of whom are gone now. 鈥淭ough, dark, vulnerable, moody,鈥� were the words Baldwin used early in that letter to his nephew, words that could be used to describe Black men.
Baldwin wanted Black people to love themselves. Take , which snapped me back into focus, when I was doomscrolling on social media the other night:
Love has never been a popular movement. And no one鈥檚 ever wanted, really, to be free. The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people. Otherwise, of course, you can despair. Walk down the street of any city, any afternoon, and look around you. What you鈥檝e got to remember is what you鈥檙e looking at is also you. Everyone you鈥檙e looking at is also you. You could be that person.听
His about Black men and perpetual rage adorns my podcast: 鈥淭o be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time.鈥� I smirk at the duality, because the acronym for 鈥淢akin鈥� A Difference鈥� is simply MAD.
Why people need to read more than 鈥淭he Fire Next Time鈥�
Dant茅 Stewart is a writer and ordained minister with a fiery and fitting first name. 鈥淪houtin鈥� in the Fire,鈥� Mr. Stewart鈥檚 2021 , invoked Baldwin and led to the Georgia Writers鈥� Association naming him as their writer of the year. A former football standout, Mr. Stewart has many talents and faces in his own right 鈥� athlete, writer, father.
He also wants us to read more than 鈥淭he Fire Next Time.鈥�
鈥淚 think more people should read James Baldwin, particularly, not to lock Baldwin into a certain moment or a certain time, because there鈥檚 a thing that happens with our heroes 鈥� [they] become stuck in time. So we鈥檙e almost reaching back to a past that鈥檚 not there anymore,鈥� Mr. Stewart said, when interviewed the day before Baldwin鈥檚 birthday, within earshot of his two precocious children. 鈥淏aldwin always challenges us to use the past 鈥� in such a way that we are able to live in the present.鈥�
Mr. Stewart specifically mentioned 鈥淣othing Personal,鈥� Baldwin鈥檚 critique of American society at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. He has written about Baldwin extensively, for Time and Oxford American, among other outlets. What shines through for him, as both a writer and minister, is understanding Baldwin鈥檚 complexity and humanity.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this misconception that James Baldwin left his faith [and the church] behind in search of this more liberating thing, which part of that is true. That more 鈥榣iberating鈥� thing was not leaving [his] faith behind, but reinterpreting it and reimagining it,鈥� Mr. Stewart says. 鈥淎s I think about the idea of love, as a minister, the beautiful part of faith is that it should be ever growing 鈥� coming into deeper knowledge of ourselves and one another.听
鈥淲hen I think about Baldwin, and I think about my own faith, there鈥檚 this deep desire to remain open to the questions of our existence together,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what love is.鈥�
Origins of the James Baldwin prize
That love is fostered in the image of a 鈥渟kinny Black kid鈥� from Baltimore named Lionel Foster. The investor and writer named a scholarship and essay contest in the iconic writer鈥檚 honor, the Baldwin Prize.
鈥淥f course, the Baldwin Prize exists because of James Baldwin. That鈥檚 the primary reason. But I was motivated to do it because I was a skinny Black kid growing up in communities that had been disinvested and segregated for so long, that it felt like eventually the intent was that we would all just die,鈥� Mr. Foster says听in a phone interview. 鈥淎nd this is true of many places in America, not just urban places, but they鈥檙e not resourced, they鈥檙e not tended to, they鈥檙e not respected in a way that gives necessary space for anyone鈥檚 humanity.
鈥淎nd I just had to be a part of changing that.鈥�
Mr. Foster鈥檚 urgency was reinforced in the heart-wrenching words of a young essayist regarding the topic of empowerment.
鈥淚 remember there was a young woman who told me she had never felt empowered. And I thought, 鈥楳aybe she鈥檚 not all that familiar with the word.鈥� And she said, 鈥楴o, Mr. Foster, I know what the word means. I鈥檓 telling you I鈥檝e never felt it,鈥欌�� he recalls. 鈥淚t鈥檚 taking what Baldwin did instinctively, a process and a way of showing up in the world that he honed over many years, and creating a program, an infrastructure for hundreds of high school students per year to do a similar type of work.鈥�
What began at Baltimore City College High School in Maryland in 2015 has grown into a project with international contributions 鈥� an effort worthy of Baldwin鈥檚 legacy as a Renaissance man. Close to 350 students participate in the essay contest, and 100 judges from all over the world provide scoring and insight.
鈥淭o go from my experiences as a kid to having some role in a hundred people, some of whom don鈥檛 even live in this country. ... All of that goodwill focused on young people in inner-city Baltimore,鈥� Mr. Foster says. 鈥淭here are people in Germany and parts of Africa devoting hours and saying, you know, these kids matter. What I really want is the students to appreciate how much total strangers love them and to see the kind of space we鈥檙e trying to make for them in the world.听
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the Baldwin Prize for me.鈥�
