48 Facts About James Baldwin

1. James Baldwin passed away on December 1, 1987 suffering from esophageal cancer.

2. James Baldwin was a celebrated twentieth century African-American literary figure.

3. James Baldwin would serve as a major force behind Brando's participation in the Civil Rights Movement.

4. James Baldwin was such a compelling author he inspired the FBI to compile a 1,884-page dossier on him.

5. James Baldwin responded with three powerful books of essays: Nobody Knows My Name, The Fire Next Time (1963), in which he all but predicts the outbursts of black anger to come, and More Notes of a Native Son.

6. James Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York City, on August 2, 1924, the oldest of nine children.

7. James Baldwin was raised in a Pentecostal church, dominated by the theology of "sinners in the hand of an angry God.

8. James Baldwin was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, scriptwriter, and filmmaker.

9. James Baldwin credits Bessie Smith as the inspiration that allowed him to complete Go Tell It on the Mountain.

10. James Baldwin explored his conflicted relationship with Wright in a series of moving essays, including "Alas, Poor Richard", published in Nobody Knows My Name.

11. James Baldwin died of stomach cancer in 1987, leaving several projects unfinished.

12. James Baldwin spent much of the last fifteen years of his life in France, but he never gave up his American citizenship.

13. James Baldwin realized that his essays were reaching a white audience and as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum he sought to warn whites about the potential destruction their behavior patterns might wreak.

14. James Baldwin probed the issues of race with emphasis on self-determination, identity, and reality.

15. James Baldwin died on December 1, 1987, at his home in St Paul de Vence, France.

16. James Baldwin spent years sharing his experiences and views as a college professor.

17. James Baldwin published a collection of short stories, Going to Meet the Man, around this time.

18. James Baldwin wrote another play, Blues for Mister Charlie, which debuted on Broadway in 1964.

19. James Baldwin was open about his homosexuality and relationships with both men and women.

20. James Baldwin had his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, published in 1953.

21. James Baldwin was born to a young single mother, Emma Jones, at Harlem Hospital.

22. James Baldwin remains ephemeral, but Als gives us sets of constellations that we can use to produce our own vision of Baldwin.

23. James Baldwin penned an essay for Literary Hub, in which he reflects on his relationship with his mother and publicly coming out.

24. James Baldwin had to admit that the essay in question had not even been begun.

25. James Baldwin had long admired the acclaimed director's work, going all the way back to his 2008 debut Medicine for Melancholy.

26. James Baldwin was a cousin and close friend of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.

27. James Baldwin wrote at length about his "political relationship" with Malcolm X James Baldwin collaborated with childhood friend Richard Avedon on the 1964 book Nothing Personal.

28. When James Baldwin was 15 years old, his high-school running buddy, Emile Capouya, skipped school one day and, in Greenwich Village, met Beauford Delaney, a painter.

29. In 2012 James Baldwin was inducted into the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display that celebrates LGBT history and people.

30. James Baldwin was a close friend of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison.

31. James Baldwin was made a Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur by the French government in 1986.

32. James Baldwin wrote at length about his "political relationship" with Malcolm X James Baldwin collaborated with childhood friend Richard Avedon on the book Nothing Personal.

33. James Baldwin influenced the work of French painter Philippe Derome, whom he met in Paris in the early 1960s.

34. James Baldwin was a close friend of the singer, pianist, and civil rights activist Nina Simone.

35. In 1968, James Baldwin signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.

36. In March 1965, James Baldwin joined marchers who walked 50 miles from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery under the protection of federal troops.

37. James Baldwin made a prominent appearance at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, with Belafonte and long-time friends Sidney Poitier and Marlon Brando.

38. James Baldwin expressed the hope that socialism would take root in the United States.

39. James Baldwin was again resisting labels with the publication of this work.

40. James Baldwin learned to speak French fluently and developed friendships with French actor Yves Montand and French writer Marguerite Yourcenar, who translated Baldwin's play The Amen Corner.

41. James Baldwin settled in Saint-Paul-de-Vence in the south of France in 1970, in an old Provencal house beneath the ramparts of the famous village.

42. James Baldwin would spend some time in Switzerland and Turkey.

43. James Baldwin started to publish his work in literary anthologies, notably Zero, which was edited by his friend Themistocles Hoetis and which had already published essays by Richard Wright.

44. James Baldwin befriended the actor Marlon Brando in 1944 and the two were roommates for a time.

45. When James Baldwin was 15, his high-school running buddy, Emile Capouya, skipped school one day and, in Greenwich Village, met Beauford Delaney, a painter.

46. James Baldwin once wrote, "If the concept of God has any use, it is to make us larger, freer, and more loving.

47. James Baldwin answered, "I left the church 20 years ago and haven't joined anything since.

48. James Baldwin was born in Indiana and made a career as an educator and administrator there starting at the age of 24.