James Baldwin: Part One

“One writes out of one thing only - one’s own experience. Everything depends on how relentlessly one forces from this experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give.” James Baldwin, 1955

Welcome to Civics and Coffee. My name is Alycia and I am a self-professed history nerd. Each week, I am going to chat about a topic on U.S history and give you both the highlights and occasionally break down some of the complexities in history; and share stories you may not remember learning in high school. All in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. 

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Hey everyone, welcome back. 

One of the most prolific writers of the twentieth century, James Baldwin made a name for himself through his semi-autobiographical and insightful novels such as Giovanni’s Room and Go Tell It To The Mountain. He spent his life trying to understand himself and his place in a world that seemed hostile to his mere existence. In his quest to understand himself, Baldwin produced some of the most poignant and observational literature in history.

A while back, my dear friend, and former podcast guest, Ethan, asked that I take a deep dive into the life of James Baldwin. As someone familiar with his work and legacy, I was only too excited to accept the challenge. Once I dove into the details of Baldwin’s youth, his early writing career, and his experiences during the Civil Rights movement, it became clear that this was going to be a two-part episode. 

So this week, I am diving into the early years of James Baldwin. What was his childhood like? When did he know he wanted to be a writer? And what prompted his move overseas?

Grab your cup of coffee, peeps. Let’s do this. 

Entering the world during the roaring twenties, the author known as James Baldwin was born James Arthur Jones on August 2, 1924 in Harlem, New York and was the eldest of nine. His mother, Emma Berdis Jones, was originally from Maryland and, like so many of her fellow Black Americans, moved to the big city for better economic opportunities. Baldwin’s father was not involved in his son’s life and so Emma worked as a cleaning lady to support herself and James, who doctors estimated wouldn’t make it past the age of five. When he was a toddler, Emma met and married the man who would become James’ stepfather and an outsized influence in his life, David Baldwin. A Baptist preacher, Baldwin was also a migrant to the north, hailing originally from the Jim Crow south in New Orleans. 

Baldwin grew up surrounded by the Baptist faith and was often treated cruelly by his stepfather, who took to beating him and calling him the ugliest thing he had ever seen. Baldwin’s stepfather  ruled with an iron first, strictly enforcing the word of the bible. So devout was his stepfather that the young Baldwin was forced to go through a circumcision at five. Despite the mistreatment and abuse, Baldwin worked diligently to attain the praise of his step father. James and his step father never seemed to come to a mutual understanding as David believed his step son’s interest in movies and literature were a waste and pressured James to become a preacher and devote his life to God. Speaking later in life about the influence of his step father, Baldwin described him as the most terrifying man he ever met. So horrifying, Baldwin said, that no one else could ever come close to scaring him again.

The Baldwin’s had an additional eight children together, putting a significant financial strain on the family. This struggle was internalized by the observant and emotionally vulnerable young James, who often felt responsible for caring for his younger siblings, especially after his step father died in 1943, shortly after Baldwin’s 19th birthday. 

Baldwin showed promise as a writer at a young age, writing the school song and his first play while attending elementary school at PS 24. The play gained the attention of a young, white teacher by the name of Orilla Miller, who took the young student under her wing and further encouraged his talents. The two discussed literature and the arts and Miller was even able to convince Baldwin’s strict father to allow James to attend a play with her. Their relationship was foundational to the young budding artist and Baldwin later credited her belief in him as a reason he never developed a hatred of white people, unlike his overbearing step father. 

However, it wasn’t until he attended Frederick Douglass Junior High School that Baldwin first met someone who looked like him and had similar interests. Countee Cullen, a black poet who came of age during the Harlem Renaissance and Herman “Bill” Porter nurtured Baldwin’s talent, giving him the confidence to continue to develop his craft. It was Cullen who suggested Baldwin participate in the school’s literary society and apply for admittance to the prestigious DeWitt Clinton High School. And it was Porter who introduced the young man to the public library and made the young student an editor of the school’s magazine, The Douglass Pilot. 

Baldwin applied and was admitted to DeWitt Clinton, enrolling shortly after his graduation from middle school in 1938. He continued to develop his literary talent, serving as the editor for the school’s literary magazine, Magpie. But despite his talent and deep interest in the art world, and despite knowing that he wanted to be a writer as early as 14, Baldwin desperately wanted the acceptance and love of his stepfather. The budding artist was also distinctly aware that he was attracted to men - more so than women. Growing up steeped in religion, where homosexuality was a sin, he felt he was at a crisis point and felt his only safety lay within the church. So, hungry for his stepfather’s approval and hoping to come to terms with his sexuality, Baldwin went to the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly as a young teenager. During his three years, he trained to become a boy preacher, trying hard to commit himself to the word of God and live up to the expectations of his rigid and emotionally abusive stepfather. Looking back on his experience later in life, Baldwin said the church was quote: “a mask for self-hatred and despair,” end quote.  

While Baldwin ultimately left just a few years later, the training he received served him throughout his life. It was while learning to be a preacher, for example, where Baldwin learned the power of oratory and his innate ability to command a crowd through his words. But try as he might, James Baldwin felt the church was hypocritical and knew he was not meant to be a man of the cloth and left his training at 17. His decision to leave the church was also influenced, in part, by his friendship with Beauford Delaney. Originally meeting Delaney at 15, Baldwin saw in Beauford someone who was just like him. Like Baldwin, Delaney was interested in the arts, working as a painter, and grew up the son of a preacher. The similarities didn’t end there as Beauford Delaney was also a gay man. Their friendship lasted nearly four decades and Baldwin considered him a mentor, even living with Delaney in Greenwich Village for a short period. 

Delaney had a profound impact on Baldwin who wrote of him in 1986, quote: “Beauford was the first walking, living proof, for me, that a black man could be an artist. In a warmer time, a less blasphemous place, he would have been recognized as my Master and I as his Pupil. He became, for me, an example of courage and integrity, humility and passion. An absolute integrity: I saw him shaken many times and I lived to see him broken but I never saw him bow,” end quote. 

Baldwin’s relationship with his stepfather continued to deteriorate as the elder Baldwin suffered from mental illness. David Baldwin’s condition grew worse, leading to his admittance in a mental institution before dying in 1943. Baldwin scraped together enough funds to bury his elder, holding the service on his 19th birthday. Though he was free of his stepfather’s iron fist and emotional abuse, Baldwin still felt isolated and untethered to his life in Harlem. He knew he wanted to make a career out of writing, but he was unsure that pursuing higher education was the right path. And with the death of the patriarch of the family, the young James took on the mantle of provider and held a series of jobs to earn money to support himself and contribute to the care of his siblings, spending time at a defense plant and a meat packing plant. But Baldwin seemed incapable of sustaining consistent employment, and he bounced from job to job, deepening his sense of loneliness. 

Ever the artist, Baldwin was very sensitive. Losing a string of jobs impacted the young man, leading him to fear he would turn into his stepfather. This led Baldwin to rely on drinking to escape his feelings and caused significant mental anguish. Baldwin would suffer from lifelong depression, experiencing bouts of deep episodes intermittently throughout his life. He was empathetic and highly observant, constantly feeling like an outsider wherever he went. Baldwin never felt like he belonged, questioning in a journal whether he would ever quote “be comfortable in the world,” end quote. 

It would be Baldwin’s lifelong journey to come to understand who he was and what his place was in the world. Still struggling to understand his sexuality, Baldwin experimented with men, often having one night stands, but also continuing to date women. Baldwin often kept his true feelings to himself, falling for men who were either straight or bisexual. Working through his identity, James decided to start to take his writing seriously. He entered the literary world initially as a critic, publishing a few reviews in 1945 for The Nation and New Leader magazines. A year after he lost his father, Baldwin met yet another mentor, writer Richard Wright. Wright made his career writing about and challenging race relations in the United States, first publishing a series of short novellas in Uncle Tom’s Children before publishing his memoir Black Boy in 1945. 

Baldwin, still a budding writer and unsure of his abilities, shared an early draft of his manuscript with Wright and sought his feedback. Wright saw potential and the two became friends, with Wright assisting Baldwin in securing the Eugene Saxon Award. The stipend was $500 and was intended to help the writer finish his manuscript titled In My Father’s House. The story, a precursor to Go Tell It to the Mountain, never made it to publication, but it was a nudge in the right direction. 

Despite a deep desire to be a novelist, Baldwin’s first published original piece turned out to be a nonfiction essay. Titled The Harlem Ghetto, the article was published in 1948 by Commentary Magazine and was a critique of the city of his youth and an assessment of the animosity between Black and Jewish Americans. The article, blunt in its candor, served as a preview of what was to come from Baldwin in his fictional work, which consistently pushed the boundaries of what was then considered acceptable subject matter. 

Baldwin’s first short story was finally published later in 1948, in the same magazine that published his Harlem article. Titled Previous Condition, the story explores racism and the search for identity as the main character, Peter, a black artist tries to find a place for himself in a white world, while rejecting his place in the black world. Shortly after the success of his short story, Baldwind won the Rosenwald Fellowship, which gave him enough money to leave his life in New York behind to move to Paris so he could truly focus on making writing his career. For Baldwin, moving to Paris was a necessary, but emotionally taxing decision. He was disheartened by the rapid deterioration of the city of his birth and felt that despite moving to the artsy neighborhood of Greenwich Village, he would never fully develop his ability while living in New York. 

Going to Paris offered Baldwin a chance to throw himself into his writing career. Without distractions or other obligations, Baldwin could truly find out whether he had the necessary talent to turn his writing into a fully fledged career. But he did this with a tremendous amount of guilt. By leaving, he was depriving his mother, with whom he was extremely close, of an additional income to help care for their large family. Despite his reservations, Baldwin boarded a flight to Paris, leaving on November 11, 1948. He would never again live permanently in the United States. 

And here, dear friends, is where I will leave you for now. Be sure to come back next week as I wrap up the life and times of James Baldwin, including his friendships with Civil Rights leaders like Malcolm X and Medgar Evers, and the rise of his literary career. 

A big thanks again goes to Ethan for requesting I cover James Baldwin. I would also like to send my heartfelt congratulations to Ethan and his new bride, Keyanna. They just got married and are the most adorable couple. Congratulations you two! 

And if you ever want me to cover a topic, let me know. You can find me on all the socials: instagram, facebook, the bird app, and even threads! Or you can find me the old fashioned way via my website at www dot civics and coffee dot com. 

Thanks, peeps. I’ll see you next week.

Thanks for tuning and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Civics & Coffee. If you want to hear more small snippets from american history, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening and I look forward to our next cup of coffee together. 

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