Major Works &
Themes Explored
James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York City, Aug. 2, 1924
and died on Nov. 30, 1987. From 1948, Baldwin made his home primarily in
the south of France, but often returned to the USA to lecture or teach.
In 1957, he began spending half of each year in New York City. In 1957
Baldwin became an active participant in the civil-rights struggle. A book
of essays, Nobody Knows My Name (1961), explores black-white relations,
a theme also central to his novel Another Country (1962). In the impassioned
The Fire Next Time (1963), his most powerful civil-rights statement was,
blacks and whites must come to terms with the past and make a future together
or face destruction.
In the biography Junior Book Of Authors of 1951, James Baldwin A largely
self educated Indiana native several year later he became the superintendent
of the graded schools in Indiana were he was teaching since the age of
24 which he kept for 18 years. The last 37 years of his life he worked
with publishers, first with Harper and Brothers and later with the American
Book Company. Before he wrote his own books he edited school books. Unfortunately,
his works are much less widely known today. So far as I know, none of his
books are in print today. But lots of people still no of him, like book
readers.