2024-11-28
26 分钟Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, James Baldwin's novels, essays and speeches articulated the racial oppression facing African-Americans. In works like Notes on a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, Baldwin expressed how colour is not a human or personal reality, but a political one. In Giovanni’s Room, a frank portrayal of a gay relationship, he draws on his own life as a gay man. In the wake of Black Lives Matter, the US continues to grapple with tension and division, with race and identity still huge cultural and social issues. Cianna Greaves looks at how Baldwin’s life and works still matter and inspire artists today, including Detroit based artist Sabrina Nelson whose exhibition Frontline Prophet: James Baldwin has travelled across the US; curator Ashara Ekundayo; poet and founder The Baldwin Institute, Achille Tekiang; writer and executive director of La Maison Baldwin, Tara Phillips; as well as French journalist, film-maker and graphic novelist Rokhaya Diallo.
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Hello and welcome to the documentary the Cultural Frontline from the BBC World Service, the program that explores the world we live in through the and voices of artists.
I'm Sienna Greaves and I'm looking at the life and legacy of one of America's most influential thinkers, writers and activists, James Baldwin.
His cutting commentary on the racial and socioeconomic realities of the United States called attention to the daily oppression and injustices facing black and brown people.
And 100 years after his birth, we look at how his words continue to inspire and the issues that he highlighted still continue to impact and resonate today.
It comes as a great shock around the age of 5 or 6 or 7 to discover the flag to which you have pledged allegiance along with everybody else has not pledged allegiance to you.
It comes as a great shock to discover that Gary Cooper killing off the Indians when you were rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians were you.
It comes as a great shock to discover that the country which is 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.
That's James Baldwin speaking in 1965.
And please note this episode contains some outdated racial language that could cause offense.
James Baldwin has had a profound impact on American culture and its intellectual history.
In his novel if Beale Street Could Talk, he gives us the harsh realities and limitations of racism while including a tender and heartwarming look at black love.
In essays such as Notes on a Native sun and the Fire.
Next Time he tells how color is not a human or personal reality, but a political one.
Recently there's been a resurgence in the popularity of Baldwin's works and ideas.
Films like 2016's I Am not yout Negro reintroduced Baldwin to a new younger audience of artists and thinkers and the high profile, violent deaths of black men and women, many at the hands of police, has led a new generation to his work.
New York's iconic streets were littered with.