James A. Baldwin Biography

James A. Baldwin, Author
Born asJames Arthur Baldwin
Occup.Author
FromUSA
BornAugust 2, 1924
Harlem, New York, U.S.
DiedDecember 1, 1987
Saint-Paul de Vence, France
Aged63 years
James Arthur Baldwin was an American author, activist, and also intellectual that was born on August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York City. He was the oldest of 9 kids born to Emma Berdis Jones and David Baldwin. Baldwin's mommy was a residential employee, and his stepfather was a Baptist preacher.

Maturing in Harlem, Baldwin was surrounded by poverty as well as racial stress, which he would certainly later check out in his writing. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School as well as functioned different tasks, including as a dishwasher and also a delivery child, prior to moving to Greenwich Village in the very early 1940s to seek his composing profession.

Baldwin's very first story, "Go Tell It on the Mountain", was published in 1953 and was loosely based upon his own experiences maturing in a spiritual house. Guide was seriously acclaimed and recognized Baldwin as a significant literary voice.

Throughout the 1950s as well as 1960s, Baldwin ended up being increasingly involved in the civil rights activity and was a close friend of famous lobbyists such as Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and also Martin Luther King Jr. He utilized his contacting attend to problems of race, sexuality, as well as course, and his essays and also stories, such as "Notes of a Native Son", "The Fire Next Time", and "Another Country", are taken into consideration classics of American literary works.

In addition to his composition, Baldwin was additionally an outspoken advocate for social justice and also civil liberties. He spoke up versus authorities brutality and bigotry in the United States as well as ended up being involved in different civil liberties organizations, consisting of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Baldwin spent much of his later life in France, where he remained to compose as well as speak out on issues of social justice. He died of stomach cancer on December 1, 1987, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, at the age of 63.

James Baldwin's writing and activism had a profound effect on American society and also remain to be commemorated as well as researched today. He was an effective voice for marginalized neighborhoods as well as a brave advocate for justice as well as equality.

Our collection contains 52 quotes who is written / told by James, under the main topics: Love - Patriotism.

Related authors: Martin Luther King Jr. (Minister), DeWitt Clinton (Politician), Medgar Evers (Activist), Malcolm X (Activist), James Baldwin (Educator)

James A. Baldwin Famous Works:
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52 Famous quotes by James A. Baldwin

Small: Education is indoctrination if youre white - subjugation if youre black
"Education is indoctrination if you're white - subjugation if you're black"
Small: If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze wi
"If the relationship of father to son could really be reduced to biology, the whole earth would blaze with the glory of fathers and sons"
Small: Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor
"Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor"
Small: The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side
"The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side"
Small: The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white worlds defi
"The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions"
Small: The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to exami
"The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated"
Small: Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than
"Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch"
Small: Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart for his purity, by definition, is u
"Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable"
Small: No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it
"No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it"
Small: No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for t
"No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time"
Small: Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a simi
"Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock"
Small: Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didnt have it and though
"Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex, you thought of nothing else if you didn't have it and thought of other things if you did"
Small: Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within
"Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within"
Small: Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?
"Love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters?"
Small: Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war love is a
"Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up"
Small: Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for e
"Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time"
Small: Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy ag
"Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent"
Small: American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyon
"American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it"
Small: A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled
"A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled"
Small: There is a sanctity involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out o
"There is a "sanctity" involved with bringing a child into this world: it is better than bombing one out of it"
Small: There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes
"There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention"
Small: The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend
"The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did - which was to hide"
Small: The writers greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in an
"The writer's greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all"
Small: The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in
"The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in"
Small: The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become ones key to t
"The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one's key to the experience of others"
Small: The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, t
"The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love"
Small: Ive always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative
"I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative"
Small: I want to be an honest man and a good writer
"I want to be an honest man and a good writer"
Small: I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the
"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually"
Small: I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate
"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain"
Small: I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that.
"I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all"
Small: Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutab
"Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated, and this was an immutable law"
Small: Fires cant be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our
"Fires can't be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks"
Small: Everybodys journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy.
"Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality"
Small: Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control
"Every legend, moreover, contains its residuum of truth, and the root function of language is to control the universe by describing it"
Small: The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now
"The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now"
Small: The face of a lover is an unknown, precisely because it is invested with so much of oneself. It is a my
"The face of a lover is an unknown, precisely because it is invested with so much of oneself. It is a mystery, containing, like all mysteries, the possibility of torment"
Small: People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they p
"People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead"
Small: When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isnt a man of action. Action is a lac
"When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking"
Small: There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the mome
"There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now"
Small: The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds
"The only thing that white people have that black people need, or should want, is power-and no one holds power forever"
Small: To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger
"To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger"
Small: Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world but it is imp
"Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned"
Small: The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory
"The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory"
Small: Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who
"Pessimists are the people who have no hope for themselves or for others. Pessimists are also people who think the human race is beneath their notice, that they're better than other human beings"
Small: People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on
"People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned"
Small: People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them
"People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them"
Small: It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected
"It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive"
Small: It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the indepen
"It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind"
Small: It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can
"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have"
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