JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth

HOSTED BY MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO

“A writer is by definition a disturber of the peace. He has to be … He has to make you ask yourself, make you realize that you are always asking yourself, questions that you don’t know how to face.” – James Baldwin

Throughout his entire career as a writer, from his debut novel in 1953, Go Tell It on the Mountain, to his final novel published in 1979, Just Above My Head, and countless articles, essays, and literary works in between, Baldwin grappled with the complexities of race, faith, gender and sexuality, as well as universal themes of love, despair, trauma, betrayal, hope, and salvation in an attempt to make sense of the world around him.

Discover highlights of the exhibition that map Baldwin’s writings from childhood to his death. Scholars Dr. Imani Perry and Dr. Rich Blint, award-winning poet Dante Micheaux, and Grammy Award–winning recording artist Meshell Ndegeocello discuss Baldwin’s early writing in Magpie: A literary-art publication, a letter to his dear friend and playwright Lorraine Hansberry, his novel Another Country, and more.

JIMMY! God’s Black Revolutionary Mouth will be on view at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture through February 2025. Explore more resources related to James Baldwin and NYPL’s special programs and events throughout his centennial year.

Photo by Steven Schapiro © Steven Schapiro Estate