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The political formation of James Baldwin
JENNY FARRELL traces the critical role that the CPUSA played in the education of Harlem’s greatest man of letters
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JAMES BALDWIN, the important left-wing polemicist, black author and activist, was born one hundred years ago in Harlem, New York, August 2 1924. His writing career encompassed bestselling novels, essays, plays and articles.
Baldwin’s stepfather David, a Pentecostal preacher, was a factory worker, earning too little to provide for his family of nine children. His mother Berdis, a migrant from the South, worked in domestic service. The young James’s first encounter with police at the age of 10 brought home to him the realities of racism. David’s preaching initially led the teenage Baldwin to become a young minister.
During his time at Public School 124 in Harlem (with its first black principal, Gertrude Ayers), Baldwin’s potential was recognised by Orilla Miller, a white teacher and communist from the Midwest. Miller introduced him to literature and theatre, including A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and the landmark play Voodoo Macbeth, directed by Orson Welles with an all-black cast.
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