James Baldwin Life and Legacy - Research Paper Example

? James Baldwin Life and Legacy James Baldwin had written literary masterpieces to eradicate racial discrimination. The research focuses on Martin Luther King Jr’s struggle for racial equality through peaceful means. The research centers on Malcolm X’s proposal to murder to correct a wrong on the African Americans. The research includes James Baldwin, a homosexual, as he fights for acceptance of homosexuality. James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King were significantly influential in eliminating racial discrimination in the United States and around the world. Discussion of James Baldwin history and life. Jean –Francois Gounadoo (149) opined James Baldwin was born to Emma Berdis Joynes in Harlem, New York. Jean stated “James Arthur Baldwin was born in a Harlem hospital on August 2, 1924. His mother, Emma Berdis Jones, originally from Deals Island, Maryland, married a certain David Baldwin in 1927, which seems to indicate that James Baldwin spent the first three years of his life without paternal protection”. Research had indicated scarce data about his real father because of James Baldwin’s silence concerning this matter. In Go Tell It on the Mountain, an autobiographical novel, the writer discusses about a certain Richard who, when hit by unbearable hopelessness, snaps out his own life shortly before a faithful friend gives birth to a baby boy. Baldwin continued to comment that his father was only an imaginary character. However, the mention of the suicidal Richard in the Mountain story indicates James Baldwin’s desire to have a strong a firm father. On the other hand, the David Baldwin, who was married to James Baldwin’s mother in 1927, was described as a sickly person and had a strong fear of the white world outside the family home. Within the confines of James Baldwin’s home, David Baldwin was a tyrant in the life of James Baldwin. David Baldwin was born in New Orleans, where James Baldwin’s mother had been born in slavery, without a purpose in a cruel life. Such life make James Baldwin very unhappy, David Baldwin had to toil all day long as a manual laborer in a New York factory. Much advanced in years compared to his wife, James Baldwin already had a son, Samuel, nine years older than James Baldwin. Samuel was the offspring of David Baldwin’s first marriage. David Baldwin often mentioned his favoritism for Samuel in front of James Baldwin. David Baldwin wanted Samuel to become a pastor and a preacher. However, fate did not smile at David Baldwin. At the tender age of seventeen, Samuel, who abhorred his father, left the house suddenly. Samuel made an oath that he will only return during his father’s funeral. Thus, James Baldwin had to contend with being alone to suffer the hatred of a scornful stepfather. Further, James Baldwin was forced to take care of his three brothers as well as five sisters while his busy mother worked late in the evening waxing the parquet floors of big Manhattan offices. She continued this difficult and dangerous toil as well as thankless labor until 1962. That tormented and unhappy youth gave Baldwin an unpredictable temperament. It made him a sensitive and nervous person. Further, James Baldwin attended Devitte Clinton High School in The Bronx. While studying, James Baldwin busied himself doing chores for the school magazine. James Baldwin joined the Pentecostal church at the tender age of 14. After three years, he was promoted to Pentecostal preacher position. James Baldwin also joined the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly and became its junior minister. James Baldwin also met Elijah Muhammad. Elijah Muhammad created the Nation of Islam and opined that the Muhammad’s theories about the “white devils” as complete ridiculous. James Baldwin’s writings included the very popular Go Tell it on the Mountain. James Baldwin fought for homosexuality to be accepted by society because James Baldwin affirmed he was a homosexual. Similarities between James Baldwin’s views and writings of Martin Luther King Jr. Both Martin Luther King and James Baldwin wrote for the right of the African Americans to be treated as equals in all areas of American life. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his January 1993 Letter from Birmingham Jail explaining his activities are not unwise and untimely. Martin Luther King Jr. reiterated that he is in jail because of he espoused that all African Americans should be treated as equals in all facets of American life. American life includes school life, work life, home life, and community life. James Ralph (7) reiterated “Chicago is on fire with a nonviolent movement. They want us to come in September. We must not ignore their call," Martin Luther King, Jr., told his Southern Christian Leadership Conference colleagues in late August 1965. At King's command, SCLC geared up for a remarkable new departure, its first full-scale northern civil rights campaign. Until then SCLC had been a distinctly southern creation. Born in the South, it had spent the last eight years working almost exclusively in its native region. But times had rapidly changed”. Only by implementing the uniquely successful performance of a northern nonviolent revolt, Martine Luther Kingdom and its business and SCLC had accepted the explains he believed, could they offer hope to the "brimming until a gamed the full due to those kind works when several millions of African Americans hovered in ghettoes" and steer them away from destructive violence. Martin Luther King Jr. led the human rights movement as it focuses on persuading the people to rise up in revolt in Chicago. Albert Raby was one of the founders of the Chicago civil rights movement. The revolt focused on changing the diverse groups with healthier, discriminatory job placements. In addition, James Ralph Jr (195) reiterated “the demands of Martin Luther King's schedule never seemed to ease. On August 28, less than thirty-six hours after the Palmer House negotiations, an exhausted King was ba19ck in Atlanta for Sunday services at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Fatigue, however, could not depress his satisfaction with the Summit agreement”. The proponents of the revolt tried to ensure that what will probably crop up as a most significant and far-reaching victory that had ever precipitated in a Northern community on the whole question of open housing. The Chicago agreement was hoped to reduce the discriminatory practices in Chicago. Consequently, the Chicago revolt would serve as a rallying point for other s in the different parts of the United States to rise up and fight for equality in all areas of American life. However, Martin Luther King Jr. had to accept the reality that he had miscalculated the impact of the summer of 1966 revolt agreement. The Chicago summit agreement had been the starting point for other areas of the United States to rise up and fight for their freedom. In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. did not expect that the Chicago movement was "greater than even we imagined." In the same manner, the Palmer House accord had not been fruitful in revitalizing the African American population’s quest for racial justice. The next few months had been classified as a time of decline, not renewal, for both the Chicago movement and, more generally, the national civil rights movement. Further, Richard Lischer (10) theorized “Several years later, David Halberstam described the Civil Rights Movement as ‘a great televised morality play, white hats and black hats; lift up the black and there would be the white face of Bull Connor; lift up the white hat and there would be the solemn black face of Martin King Mehta's and Halberstam's comments—like those of historian Lerone Bennett, who insisted King's greatest gift was his instinct for symbolic action’—are a reminder that Martin Luther King was, in the fullest and most positive sense of the word, an actor”. The author stated that Martin Luther King Jr. honed his mastery of podium propaganda in the African American church. In the congregation, Martin Luther King Jr. comprehended how to accept the appropriate job responsibility and to act according to the public’s wants, needs, and caprices. The implicitness of Martin Luther King Jr.'s strategies of style was described as a few personae by which he had communicated his aim for the African American people. Martin Luther King Jr. accepted and performed with masterful flair. When speaking prophetically, for example, no unseemly aside, unmeant gesture, or hint of backstage behavior ever detracted from his role or diminished the high ground he had chosen for himself. Similar to a Greek stage performer, Martin Luther King Jr. moved across the stage talking his propaganda lines with a zealous passion fit for his unique mask. Martin Luther King Jr. had never been seen to have a broken character. Specifically, James Cone (58) insists Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous I had a dream literary masterpiece includes “We are simply seeking to bring into full realization the American dream — a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men no longer argue that the color of a man's skin determines the content of his character; the dream of a land where every man will respect the dignity and worth of human personality—this is the dream. When it is realized, the jangling discords of our nation will be transformed into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood, and men everywhere will know that America is truly the land of the free and the home of the brave”. Similarities between James Baldwin’s views and writings of Malcolm X. Both Martin Luther King and James Baldwin wrote for the right of the African Americans to be treated as equals in all areas of American life. Robert Terrill (27) explained Malcolm X writes on a first person basis. Basically, Malcolm X’s autobiography is record of actual activities writing on a time period basis. His popular literary masterpiece, Autobiography, is geared towards life and times of Malcolm X. his style of writing veers towards a seductive stance. Likewise, his writings are characterized as gripping. Malcolm X writes in a first person basis. The style creates a very realistic picture or trueness upon the readers of Malcolm X’s autobiography masterpiece. In addition, Malcolm X’s writings are seductive because they conform to personality transformation as well as a continuing process of conforming to post – Marxian concepts. Malcolm X writes with complete flawless mastery that his writing gives a feeling of being outside the realm of lapsing time. His autobiography ends with Malcolm X’s split from the territorial jurisdiction of Nation of Islam. Malcolm X uses narratives to help in the formulation and communication of narratives. For example, Malcolm X describes his hair as “This is my first really big step toward self-degradation: when I endured all of that pain, literally burning my flesh with lye, in order to cook my natural hair until it was limp, to have it look like a white man’s hair. I had joined that multitude of African American men and women in America who have brainwashed into believing the African American people are inferior to the Caucasian or White Americans. The passage clearly shows that Malcolm X hates his African American heritage because it is inferior to the White person’s heritage. The passage clearly states that Malcolm X is trying his best to weed out his African American color out of disgust for being born into this race. Differences between James Baldwin’s views and writings of Martin Luther King Jr. Comparing James Baldwin’s views with the writings focused on non-violence on a milder scale when compared to radical messages on milder basis. However, Martin Luther King focuses on a stronger dosage of medicine malpractice. For example, Lawrie Balfour (12) opined “Baldwin's insistence that those assumptions and anxieties are fundamental to Americans' sense of identity even though they do not exhaust that identity”. Differences between James Baldwin’s views and writings of Malcolm X. Malcolm X’s writing focused on the use of violence to achieve equality between the Caucasian Americans and African Americans. On the other hand, James Baldwin espoused a peaceful solution to the racial discrimination issues of the 1960s as discussed in the day’s lessons. Aside from Malcolm X’s discourse for violence, Lenwood Davis (1) proposed that most people argue that he was a man of honesty, integrity, as well as magnificent character, and stands up for what he opined was right. Malcolm X not only pinpointed the discriminating acts of the Caucasian Americans, but Blacks as well, more importantly Black leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. He believed that King's nonviolent method to racial discrimination was pure lunacy because violence is a better alternative to the peaceful process of Martin Luther King Jr. Based on the above discussion, James Baldwin wrote literary works of art to eradicate racial discrimination. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for racial equality through peaceful means. Malcolm X espouses murder to correct a wrong on the African Americans. James Baldwin, a homosexual, also fought for acceptance of homosexuality. Indeed, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King were instrumental in eliminating racial discrimination in the United States and around the world. Works Cited Balfour, Lawrie. The Evidence of Things to Come. New York: Cornell University Press, 2001. Cone, James. Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: Maryknoll Press, 1992. Davis, Lenwood. Malcolm X. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1984. Gounardoo, Jean- Francois. The Racial Problem in the Works of Richard and James Baldwin . Westport: Greenwood Press, 1992. Lischer, Richard. The Preacher King: Martin Luther King and the Word that Move America . New York: Oxford Press, 1997. Ralph, James R. Martin Luther King Jr. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Terrill, Robert. The Cambridge Companion to Malcolm X. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Read More