37 pages • 1 hour read
James BaldwinA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
James Baldwin was a prolific Black author, whose vast body of literary work made great impacts on the civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights movements. He was born James Arthur Jones to a single mother, Emma Berdis Jones, in Harlem in 1924. In 1927, Emma married a preacher from Louisiana who had moved North, David Baldwin (from whom James took his last name). James and David had a complex relationship, and the two fought frequently. David saw James’s habits of reading books, seeing movies, and having white friends as potential threats to his faith. This is mirrored in the relationship between David and Margaret in The Amen Corner.
In high school, Baldwin struggled when he began to realize that he was attracted to men. He sought religion as an escape, joining the Mount Calvary of the Pentecostal Faith Church and then following a preacher to Fireside Pentecostal Assembly. The preacher, Bishop Rose Artemis Horn (nicknamed “Mother Horn”) loosely inspired the character of Margaret in The Amen Corner. At Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, James himself took to the pulpit and discovered his gifts for moving a crowd with his words. However, he came to realize that his reasons for joining the church were to hide from his true self.
By James Baldwin
Another Country
Another Country
James Baldwin
A Talk to Teachers
A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin
Blues for Mister Charlie
Blues for Mister Charlie
James Baldwin
Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
Going To Meet The Man
Going To Meet The Man
James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
I Am Not Your Negro
I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin
If Beale Street Could Talk
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
James Baldwin
Nobody Knows My Name
Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
No Name in the Street
No Name in the Street
James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
Sonny's Blues
Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin
Stranger in the Village
Stranger in the Village
James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
The Rockpile
The Rockpile
James Baldwin