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James Baldwin was an essayist, novelist, and playwright. He was one of the first Black writers to include queer themes in fiction, notably in Giovanni’s Room (1956). As a teenager, Baldwin served as a preacher in a small Pentecostal church, a period he wrote about in his semi-autobiographical novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), and in his play, The Amen Corner. He moved to Paris in 1948 to work on his first novel and escape persistent racism and homophobia in the United States. In 1955, Baldwin published his first collection of essays, Notes of a Native Son, which includes commentary on literature and film, a memoir of his stepfather’s life and death, and pieces on being an African American expatriate in Europe. In 1957, Baldwin became an active participant in the civil rights struggle. In 1961, Baldwin published a collection of essays, Nobody Knows My Name. The New Yorker devoted its November 17, 1962, issue to an article by Baldwin on the Black Muslim separatist movement and other aspects of the civil rights struggle. The article became a bestseller in book form as The Fire Next Time (1963), which was an urgent warning to white Americans about the consequences of their oppression of African Americans.

Joining a group of artists, he met with U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963 in an attempt to open a dialogue, but the meeting proved disappointing. He led a march in Paris in support of the American civil rights movement, and participated in the historic March on Washington. Baldwin also participated in a 1965 debate at Cambridge University with William F. Buckley, Jr., on “The American Dream: Is It at the Expense of the American Negro?” In the 1970s and 1980s, Baldwin returned to the United States for a series of lectures, and then taught at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College.