James Baldwin

On the private and public lives of the author of “The Fire Next Time” and “Giovanni’s Room.”

The Kerner Commission was credited with exposing systemic racism that inspired resistance in Black communities. James Baldwin argued that it stated the obvious.

Memos on "aliases," sexuality, and The Blood Counters.

How James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and others embraced a new Black humanism.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific shows the limits–and power–of mainstream entertainment in addressing weighty social topics.

The African American perfectionists offered “faith” instead of “hope”—emphasizing the struggle to realize a vision of justice.

A discussion on the difficulty of keeping faith in a foundationally anti-Black republic.

A look into how Malcolm X employed gospel rhetoric to critique the mainstream civil rights movement for catering to white Christianity.

Digging down into the roots of white America’s infatuation with Black.

Reflections on Richard Wright’s recently published novel, "The Man Who Lived Underground."

A newly restored novel tests an old dynamic between readers and the author of “Native Son.”

A new book persuasively places Malcolm X and Martin Luther King at the center of each other’s most dramatic transformations.

Group biographies and the female friendship vogue.

The era of anti-fascist struggle was a crucial moment for Black radicals of all stripes.

She has become an icon of American letters. Now readers are reckoning with another side of her legacy.

When we mythologize the ’60s, we lose sight of what’s truly ahead of us.

Not a white equivalent of Black History Month, but a better understanding of the concept of whiteness and the harm it inflicts.

In memory of Martin Luther King Jr, a look back on his funeral.

From MLK's assassination to the Charleston Massacre, we've heard the same excuses for racial violence.

The death of Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t a galvanizing event, but the premature end of a movement that had only just begun.