Events in History at the Time of the Essay The civil rights movementĭuring the Second World War, the United States had fought alongside Great Britain to defend the self-determination of European countries against Nazi Germany. In The Fire Next Time Baldwin expressed both his frustration with the reluctance of the federal government to deal effectively with segregation in the South and his fear that militant separatists such as Elijah Muhammad might persuade black Americans that integration was a farce. A decade later he returned home to join the budding civil rights movement. After its publication, Baldwin went to France hoping to escape the racism that he felt poisoned the United States. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, recounts his disillusionment with religion. Abandoning the church, he moved to Greenwich Village to pursue a career as a writer. When he heard his father proclaim that his Jewish friends were damned, however, James grew wary of Christian dogma.

As a youth he dodged the perils of his rough neighborhood by preaching in a local church. James Baldwin was born in 1924 in Harlem, New York. An essay set in the United States in the 1960s published in 1963.Īfter meeting with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Baldwin reflects on the civil rights movement and the future of race relations in the United States.Įvents in History at the Time of the Essay

The fire next door james baldwin