What James Baldwin thinks about America

@james-baldwin · 21 positions · 0 changes of mind

American writer and civil rights activist (1924 to 1987); author of the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, the essay collections Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, and plays and poems.

James Baldwin did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

6 dated positions, c. 1962–1963, in their own words. Our reading of what James Baldwin has said — not written or endorsed by them.

1. c. 1962–1963

   Our readingA young Black American was expected to make peace with mediocrity, not to aspire to excellence

   Their wordsYou were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity.

   ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book

3. c. 1962–1963

   Our readingThe truly terrible thing is that Black Americans are the ones who must accept white Americans

   Their wordsThe really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them.

   ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book

5. c. 1962–1963

   Our readingWhat white Americans believe and inflict shows not Black inferiority but their own inhumanity and fear

   Their wordsPlease try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear.

   ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book

7. c. 1962–1963

   Our readingBlack Americans should not be driven from their American home, and can make America what it must become

   Their wordsFor this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become.

   ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book

9. c. 1962–1963

   Our readingAmerica celebrates a century of freedom a century too soon, and Black Americans cannot be free until white Americans are

   Their wordsYou know, and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon. We cannot be free until they are free.

   ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book

11. c. 1962–1963

    Our readingBlack Americans' experience gives them no reason to respect standards white America claims but does not live by

    Their wordsBut the Negro's experience of the white world cannot possibly create in him any respect for the standards by which the white world claims to live. His own condition is overwhelming proof that white people do not live by these standards.

    ↗The Fire Next Time (Vintage International, 2013 edition)books.google.com All 21 from this book