Historically famous critics

James Baldwin

1924-1987 · American · 20th century

American essayist and novelist who indicted racism and probed identity and sexuality

Baldwin wrote about race in America with an eloquence and passion that made him one of the most important voices of the twentieth century. He moved the argument onto the interior plane, exposing the psychological cost of racism for both the oppressed and the oppressor while refusing to separate it from questions of sexuality, faith, and love. He belongs among the great critics because he forced white America to confront its own myths, insisting that the country could not be free until it faced the truth of its history.