American Literature

Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)

Social Movements

African Americans

This collection uses primary sources to explore James Baldwin&#39;s The Fire Next Time.

A portrait of James Baldwin by Boris Chaliapin from 1963, the year in which *The Fire Next Time* was published.

A *Memphis World* article about James Baldwin’s early life and education, 1967.

Transcript:

**James Baldwin:
Rags To Riches**<br> 
He didn't have much time to play
with other children. He was the
oldest of nine children and had
to take care of the younger ones.
James Baldwin says, "As they were
born, I took them over with one
hand and held a book with the
other."

He didn't have nice clothes like
some of the other boys. His father
was only a poor minister. He
wasn't good looking. As a matter
of fact he was quite homely, with
very large eyes. They called him
"frog eyes"!

James Baldwin had a very special talent. He could make up the
best stories you ever heard. He
wrote poems, songs, plays and stories. He amazed his teachers with
his wonderful stories. When he was
about ten years old he wrote a
play. One of his teachers took an
interest in him. She game him
books to read and took him to the
theatre. This encouraged him to
write and write and write.

The teachers asked him to read
his stories to the class. The children looked at him. They listened
to him. They admired him. They
shook their heads and said, "No one
can write like James"! He was the
best writer in the school. He was
the best writer around. Mayor La
Guardia, the mayor of New York
City, sent him an award for a
song he'd written. He was thrilled.
His writing delighted his mother,
but his father couldn't understand
a son who liked to write better
than anything else. His father
wanted him to be a minister. When
he was fourteen he became a preacher, but he stopped preaching
when he reached seventeen. One
day his father asked, "You'd rather write than preach?" James
answered, "Yes." This saddened his
father very much. Sometimes parents don't understand how their
children feel.

James was determined to become
a good writer; a famous writer.
He wrote about what happened to
him. He wrote about what people
did to him and how he felt about
what they did to him. He wrote
about what he heard, saw, smelled,
tasted and felt! He wrote and he
wrote. He wrote and he wrote some
more. His stories got better and
better.

His father died a bitter, unhappy man. His bitterness was the
result of conditions under which he
was forced to live because he was
a Negro. His unhappiness killed
him before his time, before he could
enjoy the fame and success of his
son. Although they never understood each other, James missed
his father after he was gone.
James wondered, "why don't they
want us? What have we done to
them?" These thoughts hurt him
deeply. His writing gave him a
chance to "get it off his chest."
He began to have certain feelings
about himself and about "those
people" who kept him in the slums,
living a life of misery and want.
There were many bad people in
the world! Thank God there were
also many good people in the
world. One of his kind and generous white teachers helped his
family when his father had lost
his job. There was hope for his
world.

He wrote his way through elementary school, junior high school
and high school. He became editor
of his high, school newspapers. More
and more people began to notice
his amazing talent. He gained ad
miration and respect, James was
small in stature, but he began to
look very big in the eyes of his
admires. Today he's such an outstanding writer you could call him
a giant.

After he graduated from high
School in 1942, he worked hard to
help his family. He got a job in a
defense plant in New Jersey. World
War II was going on and many
businesses were hiring Negroes for
the first time. Most of the young
men were in the Army and there
was a manpower shortage.
Negroes had many terrible experiences in New York. Restaurants would not serve them. It was
hard for them to find a place in
which to live. Their co- workers often mistreated them.
James experiences made him angry. He was full of hatred. He
wanted to smash someone. He
wanted to kill.

One night he went to a movie
with a friend. After the movie they
decided to stop at a dinner for a
bite to eat. When they entered
the counterman roared "What do
you want?"

"We want a hamburger and a
cup of coffee. What do you think
we want," snapped James?

"We don't serve Negroes here,"
The counterman hissed!

As they walked along James' anger began to build up. It filled him,
blinded him, maddened him! He
was in a frenzy. Just then a fancy
restaurant came into sight. He was
positive they wouldn't serve him.
He walked in and sat down in
nearest vacant seat. The waitress
appeared. She was frightened when
she saw him sitting there. She
didn't ask him what he wanted,
but told him flatly, "We don't
serve Negroes here."

His fury took possession of him.
He wanted to kill, kill, kill. He
looked around. There was a water
mug half full of water on the table.
He snatched it an hurled it at her
with all his might. The terrified
waitress ducked quickly.

What a close call she had. The
mug smashed into the mirror behind the bar with tremendous
force. The loud crash startled the
diners. They looked at him in horror and
ran after him. He ran and ran. He
escaped his pursuers, but not his
problems.

These experiences made him bitter, but they didn't make him forget
 what he wanted to be. He
wanted to be a good writer and
he was determined to become one.
He continued to write. He won
prizes for his work.

His hard work began to pay off.
He was becoming world famous. He
went abroad. He traveled through
England and France. He lived in
Paris, France for a long time. He
call it, "the city I love." He met
other famous writers. They exchanged ideas. Here for a time, he
escaped some of the problems of
being a Negro.

He finally returned to America,
the land he loves most deeply in
spite of all its faults. America, after all, was his home. "There is no
place like home."

He has a burning message for
America, a plea, a demand. He cries
out for freedom and justice for the
Negro.

On June 20, 1963 his junior high
school, Frederick Douglas, presented
him with the "Alumnus of the
Year Award." He was deeply
touched. He had a message for all
mankind." Try to make the world
a more human place to live in."
Some call him the spokesman
of the Negro. He speaks for all
men . . . He speaks to America "The
American white man must find a
way to live with the Negro in order to be able to live with himself."

A 1929 photograph showing children playing on a lamppost in Harlem.

A photograph of a street scene along Lenox Avenue in Harlem, 1939.

 Lenox Avenue, now also known as Malcolm X Boulevard, is the main north-south thoroughfare in the neighborhood of Harlem.

A photograph of Harlem residents in front of a shop listening to a radio, 1930s.

A photograph of four African American World War II draftees, 1944.

An excerpt from *When the Word is Given: A Report on Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X and the Black Muslim World* by Louis Lomax, 1963.

Louis Lomax was an African American journalist who worked in newspapers and television. Lomax was the lead interviewer for the five-part television documentary on the Nation of Islam called *The Hate that Hate Produced* in 1959. Lomax interviewed Nation of Islam leaders including Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. *When the Word is Given* is his 1963 book further exploring the Nation of Islam and Black Muslim movement.


Excerpt from the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” written by Martin Luther King Jr., 1963.

A video clip of civil rights protesters arrested in Danville, Virginia, 1963.

A video clip of Malcolm X commenting on the lack of protection for protesters in Birmingham, 1963.

An excerpt from a 1982 oral history interview with Gloria Jean Howard mentioning Baldwin’s 1963 visit to Greensboro, NC.

Baldwin visited Greensboro “on behalf of CORE,” or the Congress of Racial Equality. Gloria Jean Howard’s brother, Ezell Blair Jr., was one of the four students who held a sit-in at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, on February 1, 1960, helping to incite the student civil rights movement and inspiring the formation of SNCC, or the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.


A photograph of James Baldwin during a speaking engagement for the benefit of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), May 1963.

Questions

1. In “My Dungeon Shook,” Baldwin writes to his nephew, “If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go.” Baldwin was born and raised in Harlem. Using Baldwin’s description of Harlem in *The Fire Next Time* and the photographs of Harlem from the 1930s, imagine young James Baldwin walking along these blocks and streets as a young child. In what ways do these photos confirm some of the issues Baldwin raises about segregation and economic opportunities? In what ways do these photos conflict with Baldwin’s assessment of the neighborhood? 
2. In “Down at the Cross,” Baldwin writes of his awakening as a young teenager in Harlem in the 1930s: “One did not have to be very bright to realize how little one could do to change one’s situation…” What does Baldwin’s statement mean for the scenes and people pictured in the photos of Harlem in this set? 
3. Compare Baldwin’s *The Fire Next Time* and Dr. King’s “[Letter from Birmingham Jail](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin/sources/1234).” How does each view the role of religion in black and white America? How are their criticisms of religious leaders similar and different? 
4. Now consider the [video clip of Malcolm X](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin/sources/1236). Baldwin, King, and Malcolm all create a sense of urgency about the importance of acting now. What did each foresee as the outcome should America wait longer to act? 
5. In *The Fire Next Time*, Baldwin describes his meeting with Elijah Muhammad and his impressions of Muhammad’s organization, the Nation of Islam. Compare Baldwin’s and [Louis Lomax](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin/sources/1233)’s perspectives on the Nation of Islam.
6. After the publication of *The Fire Next Time*, Baldwin went on a speaking tour for a civil rights organization called CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality. Using [Gloria Howard’s oral history excerpt](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin/sources/1237) and the [photograph from a CORE speaking engagement](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-fire-next-time-by-james-baldwin/sources/1238), what can you infer about the impact Baldwin had among college students? 

Activity

*The Fire Next Time*, Dr. King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the video clips of protesters arrested and Malcolm X reflecting on Birmingham protests, and Lomax’s book on the Nation of Islam all appeared in the year 1963. Ask students to imagine themselves as activists in 1963. Where would they see themselves in the movement? Using additional research if needed, ask students to write a short “bio” of who they would have been as a civil rights activist in 1963 and why. Choices might include: a collaborator with Dr. King and a nonviolent protester, a writer and lecturer awakening America to its flaws like Baldwin, or a member of the Nation of Islam promoting black nationalism like Malcolm X. Lead a class discussion in which students introduce themselves as activists. Why did they select the profiles that they did? What attracted them about the leadership style or perspective that they chose?

Teaching Guide: Exploring *The Fire Next Time*

Resources

1. [1963 interview between James Baldwin and Dr. Kenneth Clark](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/bonus-video/mlk-james-baldwin/), PBS. 
2. [*James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket*](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/james-baldwin-film-james-baldwin-the-price-of-the-ticket/2632/), PBS American Masters.  
3. [*Activism in the US: Civil Rights Movements*](http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/activism/movements) online exhibit, Digital Public Library of America.  
4. “[1963](http://americanhistory.si.edu/changing-america-emancipation-proclamation-1863-and-march-washington-1963/1963),” *Changing America: 1863/1963* exhibit, Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  
5. [Harlem, 1900-1940](http://exhibitions.nypl.org/harlem/), Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. 
6. “[Teaching Religion, Politics, and Civil Rights](http://www.aaihs.org/teaching-religion-politics-and-civil-rights/),” by Chernoh Sesay, Jr., African American Intellectual History Society blog. 

Overview

Writer, novelist, and social critic James Baldwin was among the leading voices of the twentieth century on race relations and the African American experience. Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924 and his experience of poverty, racism, and segregation profoundly influenced his writing. To escape the limitations of American racism and the stigma he faced as a gay man, Baldwin spent much of his adult life living in France, though he always considered himself an American and returned to the US often to advocate for civil rights and social justice.

*The Fire Next Time* was published in 1963 in the midst of the civil rights and black nationalist movements. The book consists of two essays, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” and “Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind.” In *The Fire Next Time*, Baldwin uses anecdotes from his personal experiences to confront and explore broader themes in American race relations, including the role of religion in black communities, the hypocrisies of American Christianity, the inextricable links between black and white America, the fear of confronting America’s history of hate and white supremacy, and his vision of love—or a sincere quest for mutual understanding and compassion—as crucial to the salvation of the country. Baldwin was already a popular and well-respected writer, but *The Fire Next Time* launched him to a new level of celebrity. This set explores Baldwin’s upbringing in Harlem as well as the contemporary context of the *The Fire Next Time*.


English

*The Fire Next Time* by James Baldwin

fire-next-time-james-baldwin_04_7934a66e3d40ea9d4ac65e8dc3d4f4e1.jpg

“View of Lenox Avenue, Harlem, at 135th Street, showing businesses, pedestrians and shoe-shine stand, March 23, 1939,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/7934a66e3d40ea9d4ac65e8dc3d4f4e1.

A photograph of a street scene along Lenox Avenue in Harlem, 1939.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 4 of 12 in the Primary Source Set The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin