Celebrate 100 years of James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) with selections from across the Free Library’s collections highlighting Baldwin’s work, influence, and legacy. On display outside the Social Science and History Department at Parkway Central Library, Love and Revolution: James Baldwin Speaks to Our Time highlights Baldwin’s influence on the Civil Rights Movement during his time and his influence on revolutionary thought today.
In collaboration with the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation, we selected materials from the Art Department, Fleisher Collection, Print and Picture Collection, Rare Book Department, Social Science and History Department, and the circulating collection that highlights Baldwin’s work and influence. These library materials are placed in conversation with art, poetry, and music that articulate Baldwin’s ongoing impact and underscore the continued importance of his work.
This display is part of a year-long celebration of James Baldwin and his literary, philosophical, cultural, artistic, and ideological legacy, in addition to his contributions to the revolutionary remaking of world humanity. The Year of James Baldwin: God’s Revolutionary Voice is a collaboration between the Free Library of Philadelphia's Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department; the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation — a collective that meets every Saturday to discuss social movements, politics, and the path ahead for humanity in a space outside of traditional higher education settings; and the Black Writers Museum. As part of the Year of James Baldwin, we have also been holding a weekly reading group at Parkway Central where we are working through No Name in the Street by James Baldwin. We are on a summer break for August, but keep an eye on our events page for upcoming reading group meetings.
Stop by anytime during Parkway Central Library’s opening hours to view the display, which is up now and will continue through the end of September.
If you are interested in reading more beyond the display, check out the accompanying reading list, which includes a selection of materials by or related to James Baldwin that are available throughout the Free Library system in addition to those found on display. Below are some highlights from the reading list that illustrate Baldwin’s ongoing influence across movements, mediums, and disciplines:
James Baldwin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2014) by James Baldwin
When, in the fall of 1987, the poet Quincy Troupe traveled to the south of France to interview James Baldwin, Baldwin's brother David told him to ask Baldwin about everything — Baldwin was critically ill and David knew that this might be the writer's last chance to speak at length about his life and work. The result is one of the most eloquent and revelatory interviews of Baldwin's career, a conversation that ranges widely over such topics as his childhood in Harlem, his close friendship with Miles Davis, his relationship with writers like Toni Morrison and Richard Wright, his years in France, and his ever-incisive thoughts on the history of race relations and the African-American experience.
The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (2010) by James Baldwin
The Cross of Redemption is a collection of previously uncollected writings by James Baldwin, including essays, speeches, letters, and reviews.
The Evidence of Things Not Seen (2023) by James Baldwin
In this essential work, James Baldwin examines the Atlanta child murders that took place over 22 months in 1979 and 1980. Examining this incident with a reporter's skill and an essayist's insight, he notes the significance of Atlanta as the site of these brutal killings — a city that claimed to be "too busy to hate" — and the permeation of race throughout the case: the Black administration in Atlanta; the murdered Black children; and Wayne Williams, the Black man tried for the crimes. In Baldwin's hands, this specific set of events has transcended its era and remains as relevant today as ever.
Letter to Jimmy (2007) by Alain Mabanckou
Written on the 20th anniversary of James Baldwin's death, Letter to Jimmy is African writer Alain Mabanckou's ode to his literary hero and an effort to place Baldwin's life in context within the greater African diaspora.
Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody: The Making of a Black Theologian (2018) by James H. Cone
In this powerful and passionate memoir — his final work — Cone describes the obstacles he overcame to find his voice, to respond to the signs of the times, and to offer a voice for those — like the parents who raised him in Bearden, Arkansas in the era of lynching and Jim Crow — who had no voice. Recounting lessons learned both from critics and students, and the ongoing challenge of his models King, Malcolm X, and James Baldwin, he describes his efforts to use theology as a tool in the struggle against oppression and for a better world.
Gordon Parks: Segregation Story (2022) by Gordon Parks
With its vivid color pictures, the series offers a fresh perspective on a most controversial period in American history, which looms large in the collective memory almost exclusively through black-and-white imagery. Parks' empathetic approach eschewed the journalism that focused on the leaders and momentous events of the struggle for civil rights and instead portrayed the common humanity of his fellow Americans going about daily life in unjust circumstances. Pursued at grave danger to the photographer himself, the project was an important chapter in Parks' career-long endeavor to use the camera as a weapon for social change. This edition of Segregation Story also includes newly discovered descriptions Parks wrote for the photographs.
Jimmy's Rhythm Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin (2024) by Michelle Meadows
This first-ever picture book biography of the legendary writer and activist introduces readers to this passionate Black man who discovered his true power in the written word, which opened the world to him as he used his voice fearlessly.
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words (1995) by Lorraine Hansberry
This is a selection of prose, dramatic writings, and drawings done by African-American playwright Lorraine Hansberry, which, combined with other fiction and non-fiction commentary, provide insight into her life, thoughts, feelings, and career.
The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study (2023) by W.E.B. Du Bois
More than 100 years after its original publication by the University of Pennsylvania Press, The Philadelphia Negro remains a classic work and is the first sociological case study of an African American community in the United States. It is also the first, and perhaps still the finest, example of engaged sociological scholarship — the kind of work that, in contemplating social reality, helps to change it. This edition features a newly revised introduction by Elijah Anderson that examines how the neighborhood studied by Du Bois has changed over the course of a century and contextualizes the study in light of recent 21st-century scholarship.
The Very Best of Harry Belafonte (2001)
This is a compilation of tracks previously released separately on analog discs roughly between 1952 and 1961.
Shoutin' in the Fire: An American Epistle (2021) by Danté Stewart
In Shoutin' in the Fire, Danté Stewart gives breathtaking language to his reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy — both the kind that hangs over our country and the kind that is internalized on a molecular level. In 2016, Stewart was a rising leader at the predominantly white evangelical church he and his family were attending in Augusta, Georgia. But when Donald Trump began his campaign, so began the unearthing. Stewart started overhearing talk in the pews — comments ranging from microaggressions to outright hostility toward Black Americans. As this violence began to reveal itself en masse, Stewart quickly found himself isolated amid a people unraveled; this community of faith became the place where he and his family now found themselves most alone. This set Stewart on a journey — first out of the white church and then into a liberating pursuit of faith — by looking to the wisdom of the saints that have come before, including James H. Cone, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, and by heeding the paradoxical humility of Jesus himself.
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