“A Letter to My Nephew,” published in The Progressive

In January 1963, Baldwin published The Fire Next Time, which presents two vehement essays about race in America. The first, shorter essay, “A Letter to My Nephew,” had debuted a month earlier in The Progressive. This is Baldwin’s copy of the magazine. 

In the essay, Baldwin outlines systemic Black oppression, and urges his teenage nephew not to accept the “white man’s definition” of him. Also, though he admits it will be difficult, Baldwin implores the young man to approach white people with acceptance, and something like pity. As Baldwin puts it, there are many white people “trapped in a history which they do not understand,” deeply inculcated with delusions of white superiority and the myth of American innocence.