"A person does not lightly elect to oppose his society. One would much rather be at home among one's compatriots than be mocked and detested by them. And there is a level on which the mockery of people, even their hatred, is moving, because it is so blind: It is terrible to watch people cling to their captivity and insist on their own destruction." -- James Baldwin, No Name In The Street
NOVELS & SHORT STORIES
- Another Country
Another Country is a 1962 novel by James Baldwin. The novel is primarily set in Greenwich Village and Harlem, New York City, in the late 1950s. At its release, it portrayed many taboo themes, including bisexuality, interracial couples, and extramarital affairs.
(Wikipedia) - Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin.[1] The book focuses on the events in the life of an American man living in Paris and his feelings and frustrations with his relationships with other men in his life, particularly an Italian bartender named Giovanni, whom he meets at a Parisian gay bar.
(Wikipedia) - Going to Meet the Man
The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories, as told by James Baldwin, detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their heads above water.
(LibraryThing) - Go Tell It On the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain is a 1953 semi-autobiographical novel by James Baldwin. It tells the story of John Grimes, an intelligent teenager in 1930s Harlem, and his relationship with his family and his church
(Wikipedia) - If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk is a love story set in Harlem in the early 1970. The title is a reference to the 1916 W.C. Handy blues song "Beale Street Blues," named after Beale Street in Downtown Memphis.
(Wikipedia) - Just Above My Head
The novel tells the life story of a group of friends, from preaching in Harlem, through to experiencing "incest, war, poverty, the civil-rights struggle, as well as wealth and love and fame—in Korea, Africa, Birmingham, New York City, Paris."
(Wikipedia) - Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
Leo Proudhammer, an African-American actor who grew up in Harlem and later moved into Greenwich Village, has a heart attack while on stage. This event creates the present tense setting for the novel, which is mostly narrated in retrospect, explaining each relationship with a story from the actor's life.
(Wikipedia)
ESSAY COLLECTIONS
- The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Essays
This is a collection of essays, articles, and reviews by the late author includes pieces that explore such topics as religious fundamentalism, Russian literature, and the possibility of an African-American president.
(LibraryThing) - The Devil Finds Work
Baldwin's personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also a probing appraisal of American racial politics.
(LibraryThing) - The Evidence of Things Not Seen
This book-length covers the Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, often called the Atlanta Child Murders, and probes Atlanta's related social issues, especially race relations.
(Wikipedia) - The Fire Next Time
The book's first essay discusses the central role of race in American history. The second essay deals with the relations between race and religion, focusing in particular on Baldwin's experiences with the Christian church as a youth, as well as the Islamic ideas of others in Harlem.
(Wikipedia) - Nobody Knows My Name
Nobody Knows My Name, a collection of essays, includes revised versions of several of his previously published essays, as well as new material.
(Wikipedia) - No Name in the Street
This book recounts the Harlem childhood that shaped his early consciousness, the later painful historic events—the murders of his friends Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X—along with his stay in Europe and in Hollywood and his return to the American South to confront a violent America.
(Wikipedia) - Notes of a Native Son
This work is a collection of ten essays published in 1955, mostly tackling issues of race in America and Europe. The volume, as his first non-fiction book, compiles essays of Baldwin that had previously appeared in such magazines as Harper's Magazine, Partisan Review, and The New Leader. "Notes" is widely regarded as a classic of the Black autobiographical genre.
(Wikipedia)
DOCUMENTARIES & MOVIES
PLAYS
- The Amen Corner
The play addresses themes of the role of a church in a Black family and the effect of a poverty born of racial prejudice on an African-American community.
(Wikipedia) - Blues for Mister Charlie
Blues for Mister Charlie is a social commentary drama in three acts. he play is dedicated to the memory of Medgar Evers, his widow and children, and to the memory of the dead children of Birmingham." It is loosely based on the Emmett Till murder that occurred in Money, Mississippi, before the Civil Rights Movement began.
(Wikipedia)
SPEECHES & DIALOGUES
INTERVIEWS & DEBATES
LITERATURE DATABASES
- Alexander Street LiteratureThis is a comprehensive, cross-searchable package of collections covering literatures of place, race, and gender.
- Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry OnlineThis database contains 250,000 poems in full text and 450,000 citations
- Films on DemandThese videos cover American Literature.
- Gale LiteratureThis database brings together many Literature databases.
- Gale: LitFinderHere you can find access to short stories, speeches, and plays.
- JSTORThis a huge database covering the humanities with access to very many academic journals and more.
- Project MuseThis database is a provider of digital humanities and social science content. It has access to academic journals and books.
- Scribner Writers SeriesThis includes 15-20 page signed essays on more than 2,000 authors and literary genres.
- Twayne Author SeriesHere you can find biographical information and literary criticism about world authors and their notable literary works.
- Twentieth-Century African American PoetryThis is a source for modern and contemporary African American poetry
- Women Writers OnlineThis is a full-text collection of early women’s writing in English, published by the Women Writers Project at Northeastern University.