Explore a curated selection of digital resources from our digital exhibition, Chez Baldwin, to discover more about the life and legacy of James Baldwin.

Books, Articles, Essays, Interviews, and Speeches

• Abdul, Geneva, “When James Baldwin Was a ‘Has-Been’,” New York Times Magazine, (June 30, 2021).
• Baldwin, James, Collected Essays, (Library of America, 1998).
• Baldwin, James, “Encounter on the Seine: Black Meets Brown,” (PDF) Notes on a Native Son, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955).
• Baldwin, James, “The Fight: Patterson vs. Liston,” Nugget, (February 1963).
• Baldwin, James, “History Is A Weapon: They Can’t Turn Back,” Mademoiselle, (February 1, 1960).
• Baldwin, James, “How Can We Get the Black People to Cool It?,” Esquire, (July 1, 1968).
• Baldwin, James, “On the Horizon,” Commentary, (January 1955).
• Baldwin, James, “The Price May be Too High,” The New York Times, (February 2, 1969).
• Baldwin, James, “Sitting in the House,” Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son, (Cleveland: Dial Press, 1961).
• Barth, Grace, Laura Davis, Amanda Mita, “Digital Exhibitions: Concepts and Practices,”(PDF) Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, Technical Leaflet Series, No. 12, (2018).
• Buccola, Nicholas, The Fire is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley, Jr., and the Debate over Race in America, (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019).
• Eckman, Fern Marja, “Freedom Day, 1963. A Lost Interview With James Baldwin,” The New Yorker, (September 22, 2020).
• Elkoff, Marvin, “Everybody Knows His Name,” Esquire, (August 1, 1964).
• FBI, “File on James Baldwin,” (1963-1971).
• Field, Douglas. “Pentecostalism And All That Jazz: Tracing James Baldwin’s Religion.” Literature and Theology, London: Oxford University Press, Vol. 22, No. 4 (December 2008) p. 436-457.
• Fields, Kiah, “Today in Hip Hop History: Celebrating the Life and James Baldwin, Hip Hop’s Unsung Innovator,” The Source, (August 2, 2016).
• Gibson, Samantha, “Primary Source Sets: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin,” 2016, Digital Public Library of America.
• Glaude Jr., Eddie S., Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and His Urgent Lesson For Our Own, (New York: Crown, 2020).
• Grant, Carl A., James Baldwin and the American Schoolhouse, (New York: Routledge Classic Books, 2021).
• Miller, James. “What Does It Mean to Be an American? The Dialectics of Self-Discovery in Baldwin’s ‘Paris Essays’ (1950-1961).”Journal of American Studies Vol. 42, No. 1 (2008) p 51-66.
• Morrison, Toni, editor, James Baldwin: Collected Essays, (New York: Library of America, 1998).
• Morrison, Toni, editor, James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, (New York: Library of America, 1998).
• New York Public Library, “Playwright Lecture Series, 1951-1960,” Sound Recording, Archive.
• New York Public Library, Archives and Manuscripts, “The James Baldwin Papers 1936 – 1992.”
• University of Chicago Library, “James Baldwin: Among the Philosophers,” Exhibition, 2017.
• Waxman, Olivia B., “Is If Beale Street Could Talk Based on a True Story? The Answer is Complicated,” Time, (February 22, 2019).

Videos and Recordings

• ABC, 20/20 News Magazine. “James Baldwin Interview with Sylvia Chase,” (1979)
• Angelou, Maya. “Conversation with A Native Son: Maya Angelou and James Baldwin”. (YouTube), Los Angeles, 1974
• Baldwin, James, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood (YouTube), (North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2018)
• Blint, Rich, “The Devil Finds Work: James Baldwin on American Cinema,” (YouTube) Franke Lectures in the Humanities: James Baldwin American Scene, Yale University, (October 18, 2016)
• Cavett, Dick, “Clips from Interview with James Baldwin,” (YouTube) The Dick Cavett Show, ABC, 1968
• Clark, Kenneth, “A Conversation With James Baldwin” (June 24, 1963), WGBH Media Library & Archives
• Cohen, Nathan, “Author James Baldwin on Being Black in America,” Encounter, CBC, December 11, 1960
• Fountaine, Dick and Pat Hartley, directors, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, documentary on James Baldwin retracing his 1957 journey through the South (1982).
• Mavis, Nicholson, “Interview with James Baldwin,” (YouTube) Mavis on Four, Thames Television, February 12, 1987
• Moore, Richard O., director, Take This Hammer, (1964)
• PBS, “James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket,” (August 23, 2013)
• President John F. Kennedy, “Civil Rights Address,” (YouTube) (1963)
• U.S. Information Agency, “Hollywood Roundtable—Civil Rights,” (YouTube) ca. 1963, National Archives
• Warren, Robert Penn, “Oral Histories: James Baldwin and Vernon Jordan,” C-SPAN, (ca. 1965)
• “Some Days,” (YouTube) Audra McDonald performs “Some Days” (music by Steven Marzullo; text by James Baldwin) from her album Go Back Home, Nonesuch Records © 2013 WMG
• “Twenty Audio Recordings of James Baldwin Interviews and Speeches, 1963-1986” Internet Archives