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2000 BCE
How did his contributions influence your life today
His contributions influenced my life by showing its okay too be yourself! -
Parents
Emma Berdis Jones,David Baldwin -
Birth
James Baldwin was born August 2, 1924, in Harlem, New York -
Early Life
During his early teen years he served as a youth minister in a Harlem Pentecostal church from the ages of 14 to 16.
Baldwin developed a passion for reading at an early age, and demonstrated a gift for writing during his school years. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, where he worked on the school's magazine with future famous photographer Richard Avedon. -
Education and Jobs
DeWitt Clinton High School
The New School Welcome Center -
Obstacles
Baldwins Stepfather dies of tuberculosis in 1943
The funeral was on Baldwin's 19th birthday. -
Fun Facts
James Baldwin's first novel was published in 1953, titled Go Tell It on the Mountain. At the age of 24, James left the U.S. for Paris because he despised the way African-Americans were treated. He remained in France for most of the rest of his life. Another reason that James left America was because his best friend committed suicide by leaping off the George Washington Bridge. -
Accomplishments
In 1963 Baldwin was featured on the cover of Time magazine "There is not another writer white or black who expresses with such poignancy and abrasiveness the dark realities of the racial ferment in North and South," -
Death Date
James Baldwin died on December 1, 1987, at his home in St. Paul de Vence, France -
Contributions to the black community
His jousting with white conservatives and liberals alike serves as a reminder of the complicated politics of race politics that we, of course, still live with today
