Fan Favorite: Great American Authors | James Baldwin: The Exile
3/25/202641 min
Born into poverty in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin rose to become a celebrated novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet, and a leading voice in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. In his debut novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and in his essay collections, Notes of a Native Son and The Fire Next Time, Baldwin wrote eloquently and provocatively about race, religion, sexuality, politics and class.
To distance himself from the racial hatred and discrimination at home, Baldwin spent much of his adult life in France, helping to create a vibrant community for other Black artists, s...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsLindsey Graham· Host0:00
[intro music] [car honking] Imagine it's a Friday night in March of nineteen forty-three. You're outside a restaurant called The American Diner in Trenton, New Jersey, trying to catch up to a friend who's walking quickly ahead of you on the sidewalk. Your friend Jimmy is a young Black man from Harlem who works laying railroad tracks for the U.S. Army. Tonight was supposed to be a break from hard work. Together you watched a movie and headed to the diner to grab a bite to eat. But the man at the counter refused to serve Jimmy because he's Black, and you could see the anger and frustration in Jimmy's face when he was turned away. You know that look, and now you're worried. You pick up your pace, trying to catch up to him. He's still glaring back at the diner from the street.
Speaker 20:52
Hey, Jimmy, wait up. Hey, come on.
Speaker 30:55
I thought this was The American Diner. Doesn't seem very American to me.
Speaker 21:00
Hey, keep your voice down. Do you want them to call the police?
Lindsey Graham· Host1:03
Your friend weaves down the crowded sidewalk, then stops and waits for you.
Speaker 31:08
All I wanted was a hamburger and a coffee. Is that a crime?
Speaker 21:11
I'm sorry. It's not fair. It's totally wrong.
Lindsey Graham· Host1:14
You reach to pat him on the back, but he flinches and pulls away.
Speaker 31:18
I'm so sick of hearing those words. "We don't serve coloreds. We don't serve Negroes. We don't serve your kind."
Speaker 21:26
Not everyone is like that, not in New York at least.