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=James Baldwin by Kristy Voss= James Baldwin was an African American writer who was born in Harlem, New York on August 2, 1924. His mother and stepfather raised him with his eight younger stepbrothers and sisters, after his real father left his mother and him. His mother was a domestic servant and married James’s stepfather, David Baldwin, who was a religious fanatic that despised James because of his illegitimacy, physical weakness and ugliness. Because of James’s eight younger stepsiblings, there was little time for his mother to spend with him. James’s childhood was continuously emotionally and economically difficult. He did not have an easy time in school either. His small size and mental superiority made him an easy target for bullies. Between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, he discovered he was homosexual. He looked up to his African American principal, Gertrude Ayer, and referred to him as his role model. Furthermore, a teacher of his, Orilla Miller, noticed his incredible interest in books and expanded that interest to theater as well. James finished reading his first book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, at the young age of eight. His unquestionable love for books and writing was noticed by all, and he was intensely encouraged by teachers, as well as himself, to become a writer from then on out. Baldwin had an indisputable acceptance of religious faith and often desired refuge from his strenuous life where his stepfather preached. He eventually became a preacher, and as his ministry grew, his stepfather’s followers diminished. Ultimately, Baldwin had to confront his related crisis of sexual and religious identity. His ministry, developed from religious experience, simplified moral issues of self, family, and environment, while his intellectual and literacy development complicated his sense of reality. His then grew doubtful and lost his faith in the church along with his family situation continuing to deteriorate as his stepfather sank into madness. When he was seventeen, James graduated high school and left Brooklyn to take a job in New Jersey working for a railroad. In 1944, he moved to New York City to concentrate on his writing. James began writing his first novel, //Go Tell It On The Mountain//, at the age of twenty, although publishers rejected the early version of it. Baldwin then got so tried of dealing with the discrimination in the United State from being a homosexual and an African American that at age twenty-four, he left America to live in France. His first novel was then published when he was twenty-nine. James Baldwin was obsessed with the themes of identity, or its absence in his novels as well as his themes of searching for love and identity. Many of his titles of works derived from epigraphs from spirituals or scriptures. At James’s peak of popularity, he had many friends who appreciated him and his work, even with his unpunctuality, and uncontrollable temper. Numerous numbers of Baldwin’s works explored prejudice’s he’s encountered as a black homosexual and the horrific effects of prejudice on society. When Baldwin finally returned to the U.S., he became a spokesman for the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. James Baldwin died in 1987 at the young age of 63 after suffering from stomach cancer. With James Baldwin’s power in writing, he is primarily remembered as one of the most incredible essayists that America has ever produced.

Annotative Bibliography
Bray, Rosemary L. "A Review of James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, Volume 1." __DISCovering Authors__. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 1-3 http://galenet.com/servlet/srcx.

The essay, “A Review of James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, Volume 1,” is an overview of Baldwin’s life and literary works. This essay is part of a two-volume set that presents Baldwin as one of the most unappreciated prophets. It describes how he would assume the voice of an objective white American looking at black Americans in hope of representing his people. In many of his works, Baldwin would delineate the racial gulf we typically ignore. I will use the information from this source to get an idea of what were Baldwin’s reasons for writing many of his works. This would be a better source if they included some information of his childhood to show what brought him to be the writer he is. I would recommend this to other students because I learned a lot about what was behind many of his literary works and it was written in a way that made it easy to understand.

Chalton, Nicola. “Baldwin, James.” __Literary Lifelines__. The Diagram Group. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier Education, 1998. 126-127

This source describes James Baldwin and the anger he expressed of a generation of African Americans during the civil rights movement. It summarizes his childhood in poverty and his discovery of his homosexuality. The source tells how he left America at the age of 24 to live in France and eventually returned a few years later and became a spokesman for Martin Luther King. I used this source to find out information from his childhood and his early years of writing. I would recommend that this article should add more information on his different literary works. I would recommend this source to other students because its written in simple, easy to understand language and tells about the main facts of his life.

Kinnamon, Keneth. “James Baldwin.” __American Writers__. Leonard Unger. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1979. 47-56.

The literary biography of James Baldwin is a great source for a detailed description of his life. This source describes his troublesome childhood of living in an economically and emotionally unsound family. It shows his interest in literature and theater at a very young age, reading his first book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, at eight years old. I would recommend that this source added some boldface sections and key points to make it an easier read to understand the information you are looking for. I would recommend this source to other students because of the intense amount of information included even though it is harder to pick through and understand main points.

Louis, Pratt H. “Chronology.” __James Baldwin__. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978. 13-14.

This book is solely based on James Baldwin and his life. This source gave a prospective of events in Baldwin’s life that led to his greatest works. The purpose of this book is to expound on the concerns with which Baldwin dealt with in his writing. I plan on using the Chronology of James Baldwin’s life from this source to get more of an overview of his entire life. I recommend they add some pictures of James Baldwin throughout his life because of the references they make to his appearance. I would recommend this source to another student because of the very helpful and detailed chronology that helped me to understand all the details of his life, and how they fit together.

McGill, Sarah Ann. "James Baldwin." __Great Neck Publishing__ (2005). Literary Reference Center. [|http://search.ebscohost.com.]

This source is a biography of James Baldwin. It is great for information on Baldwin’s background and childhood before he became the writer he turned out to be. It also describes his life as a young writer and a writer in Europe, trying to escape the discrimination in the U.S. for being an African American as well as a bisexual. I would recommend this source adds some information on his novels and essays, and the meanings behind them. I would also recommend this source to another student because of its great overview of Baldwin’s entire life and the understanding of the trouble he faced throughout his life.