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SN17 - James Baldwin
44 Plays2 months ago
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Transcript
Monday Routine & Episode Introduction
00:00:19
Jeff Rogers
Happy Monday. Happy Monday, everyone. Happy mid-February. It's mid-February. Time flies when you're having fun, right? So much. So much. So we're bringing you a sticky note. Episode today, as we do every Monday and a regular episode every Thursday, we're not going to stop. This shit ain't stopping. Can't stop. Can't stop. Won't stop. So today's is brought to you by Sam. Sam? That's me. So who are we doing today,
Introduction to James Baldwin
00:00:53
Jeff Rogers
Sam? And why did you choose this person?
00:00:55
Jeff Rogers
So this individual. um ah And to honor Black History Month. To honor Black History Month, yes yeah. The whole purpose of this, yeah. You know, I don't wanna, I don't wanna tell you ahead of time. Okay. Let's just get into it. Okay. And you'll learn why I chose him. Fantastic, so here we go.
Baldwin's Early Life & Influences
00:01:14
Jeff Rogers
James Arthur Baldwin, born Jones, was born on August 2nd, 1924 in Harlem.
00:01:21
Jeff Rogers
the oldest of nine children born to a single mother, Emma Berdis Jones. They lived in poverty. When James was three years old, his mother married Baptist minister, David Baldwin. He began writing poems, short stories, and plays while he was young. He spent most of his time in the library. And thanks to the influence of his stepfather, between the ages of 14 and 17, James spent his after-school hours as a preacher in a Pentecostal church.
00:01:49
Jeff Rogers
He later said about that time that it shaped him and quote, those three years in the pulpit, that's what turned me into a writer. After graduating high school, he struggled with the relentless, relentlessness and the period that was littered with bad jobs, self-motivated study and literary apprenticeship. He spent time living in New York's Bohemian quarter.
00:02:13
Jeff Rogers
Greenwich Village, writing his first publications as book reviews in journals and magazines.
Harlem Essay & Paris Move
00:02:19
Jeff Rogers
In 1944, he met Richard Wright, who helped secure a monetary grant for Baldwin to help support him while he finished his first novel, The Harlem Ghetto. An essay about the socioeconomic conditions in his childhood neighborhood was published in 1948, and he began getting much attention.
00:02:41
Jeff Rogers
Later that year, he escaped the racism and homophobia of America by moving to Paris. He spent time there in Paris and then living in the Swiss Alps with his lover, Lucian Heppersberger. During this time, he wrote, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Shortly after, he wrote his second novel dedicated to Lucian, named Giovanni's Room.
00:03:07
Jeff Rogers
Because of the theme of homosexuality, the book was rejected by the public publishers of his first novel, but it was picked up soon after by Dial Press. ah but Upon returning to the U.S. in 1957, he became active in the civil rights movement. He toured through the South and became friends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers.
00:03:29
Jeff Rogers
In 1962, he wrote Another Country, which examined sexual and racial issues through interracial relationships and bisexuality.
Civil Rights Activism & Influential Works
00:03:39
Jeff Rogers
The November 17, 1962 issue of the New Yorker magazine was primarily full of Baldwin's article about the Black Muslim separatist movement and other civil rights struggles.
00:03:52
Jeff Rogers
That article and a letter to Baldwin's nephew were then published in the Progressive to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation emancipation Proclamation. In 1963, the article and letter then became a best-selling book entitled, The Fire Next Time. The novel was, quote, an explosive work of profound social influence and an urgent warning to white Americans about the consequences of their oppression of African Americans. A notable quote from the book was, if we, and now I mean the relatively conscious whites and the relatively conscious blacks who must, like lovers, insist on or create the consciousness of the others, do not falter in our duty now
00:04:40
Jeff Rogers
We may be able, handful that we are, to end the racial nightmare and achieve our country and change the history of the world. If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy recreated from the Bible in song by a slave is upon us. God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next
Prominent Civil Rights & LGBTQ+ Voice
00:05:04
Jeff Rogers
time.
00:05:04
Jeff Rogers
oh He and a group of other artists met with U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He led a march in Paris and supported the American Civil Rights Museum Art Movement, participated in the March on Washington, wrote protests, plays, and short stories about racist racist oppression, and participated in the Martin Luther King Jr. led march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama.
00:05:31
Jeff Rogers
Malcolm X, who was a friend of Baldwin's, explained that the reason Baldwin wasn't asked to speak at the March on Washington was that, quote, because they knew Baldwin was liable to say anything. In 1965, he took part in a debate at the University of Cambridge in England with conservative right William F. Buckley Jr. They discussed the topic, quote, the American dream. It is at the expense of the American Negro.
00:05:59
Jeff Rogers
Quote, it comes as a great shock around the age of five or six or seven to discover that the flag in which you've placed an allegiance or pledged an allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you.
00:06:13
Jeff Rogers
It comes as a great shock to discover that actor Gary Cooper killing off quote Indians in movies when you were rooting for Gary Cooper that the Indians were you. It comes as a great shock to discover the country in which your birthplace and to which you owe your life and your identity has not in its whole system of reality evolved any place for you.
00:06:40
Jeff Rogers
In 1968, he was asked to write the screenplay for the film out film out adaptation for the autobiography of Malcolm X. However, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April of that year, he resigned from working on the script.
00:06:58
Jeff Rogers
He eventually completed the script and published it as a book in 1972. He continued writing a number of novels, which did not receive as much praise or attention as his earlier works.
Legacy & Influence on Social Issues
00:07:09
Jeff Rogers
He was ostracized by the more blatical right radical black leaders and writers, including Eldridge Cleaver and Amira Baraka. They objected to his more pacifist views.
00:07:26
Jeff Rogers
Cleaver's criticism was in no uncertain terms, homophobic. Through the 70s and 80s, Baldwin taught and lectured at universities across the US. He received numerous awards and recognition throughout his career, including the 1954 Guggenheim and 1958 Ford Foundation Fellowships, and the 1963 George Polk Award for Journalism.
00:07:52
Jeff Rogers
In 1986, he was accepted into France's most prestigious order, the Legion of Honor. who At the age of 63, he died of stomach cancer at home in the south of France. A legend, a renowned novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet, a leading voice in the American Civil Rights Movement, he was one of the first black writers to include queer themes in fiction.
00:08:21
Jeff Rogers
Even after his death, he continues to inspire, encourage and challenge people around the world to contemplate social issues and injustices regarding race and sexual identity. What a story. What a man. He just so cool learning about him and like the life he made for himself.
00:08:47
Jeff Rogers
some of the people kind of criticized him for fleeing to Paris and that kind of thing and oh but like he found his happy place and he lived with Lucian and he wrote a whole novel about him and like it's just beautiful that's amazing yeah and he wrote about Malcolm X he did have you ever read any of his works i have a long time ago. Yeah, I have not. I got i gotta go back. and this This really motivated me to like look into these books that he wrote. And Go Tell it on a Mountain is sort of his semi-autobiographical works about himself, the the religious aspect, and you know being a religious man, being a gay religious man in that time. In that time.
00:09:44
Jeff Rogers
And then add to it the issues of racism. I mean, he he had every obstacle thrown in him. I wonder if he hung out with Josephine Baker. He probably did. yo I've got to look that up now. i've got I'm working on a story about Josephine, but the problem is, like,
00:10:04
Jeff Rogers
You've been working on that story about just fame for the past year and a half. It's not going to get done until it's perfect. I know. I've already told Ashley that I have it i have an a fascination and an interest in African-Americans who moved to Paris in the 20s and
Josephine Baker Mention & Admiration
00:10:19
Jeff Rogers
30s. Well, our girl, you're almost there.
00:10:26
Jeff Rogers
bessie Bessie Coleman. Yes, Bessie Coleman. Yes, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker. oh And I went to a restaurant the other night with Meg and Phil and the restaurant is named Josephine. And there's a French flag.
00:10:44
Jeff Rogers
I know I'm kind of rambling off topic topic, but there was a French flag and Viva France and Josephine was the name of the restaurant. And I'm like, what is this? What is this place? So we're at the table and I'm looking around this beautiful restaurant. I mean, just gorgeous restaurant. And I'm looking around and then the lovely waitress came up to the table and I said,
00:11:07
Jeff Rogers
Why is this place called Josephine? Like I'm almost kind of freaking out in my head because I'm the biggest fan of Josephine Baker. He's fangirling it right now. Oh my God. I'm fangirling. I'm like, why is this called Josephine? She said after an actress named Josephine Baker. And I was like, honey, of an actress, please let me tell you all about her. and So by the end of the dinner, like.
00:11:29
Jeff Rogers
I'm recommended in the book to her and to Meg and Phil. And Phil, who's the historian by the end of dinner, I was like, do you know about Josephine? and He's brilliant. And he said, ah not as much as you do. That's fair. No one does. That was such a good story. Oh, he's just beautiful. Wow. right I didn't know any of that about him. Didn't know a scene. I knew he was a writer.
00:11:56
Jeff Rogers
That is all I
Hosts Reflect on Baldwin's Works
00:11:57
Jeff Rogers
knew of him. I've, I heard president Obama talked about reading his books and how he wrote his writing style. So obviously because this is a sticky note, this doesn't even cover it, but you know, I thought, you know, I could list all of his works and I could talk about all of those. Cause again, he wasn't just a book writer. He, he started with reviews and then essays and then the letter to his nephew.
00:12:26
Jeff Rogers
inspired so many people and then there are plays and books and everything that have been kind of spin-offs based on his works and his life and they're they're new they're current and a handful of years ago when race was brought back into the whole world's view as can still being an issue, not that it wasn't at any point, but he was he kind of had laid the groundwork because now LGBTQ community, and over the past few years, there's been a lot of negativity surrounding both of those cultures again, and so he was a
00:13:17
Jeff Rogers
key part of both of those, which I thought was really cool. Yeah, that's badass. He was there, and they wouldn't let him speak. Because they knew what he would say. We don't know what he'll say. I love that. I love that. I kind of feel like. I want to read him some of his work now. Do it. It is on my list. It is on my list. I'll be reading some of his books.
00:13:40
Jeff Rogers
um That's it. That's it. That's a Monday for you guys. So um again, in honor of Black History Month. Cheers. We will cheers to that. Yes. And some would say it's Black History Day every day of the year. And I applaud that too. You know, we've just given you some of our favorite people in history who just so happened to be.
00:14:09
Jeff Rogers
African American. And it's, you know, it's fun to learn. Like I learned all about James Baldwin today. Didn't read it beforehand. all And Claudette. Fessy. And we've got one more coming your way next Monday. one And I'm starting to put it together now. It's a lot. It's a lot.
Encouragement to Explore Baldwin's Works
00:14:28
Jeff Rogers
I know. And that's I think, again, yeah, we are we are limiting these stories. But these people that we are talking about are so much more than A five page story, you know, it's but to just be able to talk about the briefest bit of them that we can on these episodes. Just to spark an interest, because that just sparked an interest for me to go and read some James Baldwin, as did one of my stories to somebody else that they told me. It sparked an interest to them into going down the rabbit hole.
00:15:03
Jeff Rogers
to learn more about that particular story or that particular person. So you know what? That's what we did. That's the information we gave you. Go forth and read something by James Baldwin. Learn about him. And that is all we have for today. Thank you for listening. Bye. Bye.