James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
Overall Thesis: The documentary explores James Baldwin’s life and work
that demonstrates the intersections of race, sexuality, and personal identity
within American society. It reflects his role as a writer, activist, and
intellectual who used his public platform to critique the pervasive structures
of racism while also highlighting the complexities of his identity as a gay
Black man. His experiences discussed throughout the documentary reveal
the emotional and psychological costs of living authentically in a world built
on exclusion.
Introduction and Early Life
- Thesis: This section introduces James Baldwin discussing his early life
in Harlem, shaped by racial oppression, religious conflict, and familial
strife and explores the early process of his later political activism and
literary voice.
- Born in Harlem in 1924
Grew up in harsh times of poverty, racial discrimination, and strict
religious beliefs
Oldest of 9
- When he was young he wrote his first play and the school song
- By the time he was 14 knew he wanted to be a writer
- Had an intense relationship with his father
Described as oppressive and formative
Father was a strict preacher
Did not approve of his choice of being a writer, wanted him to write
about God
Religious upbring brought tension to his life
Was determined he would be a preacher
- Started being published when he was 22
Midlife Work
- Thesis: this section highlights the Baldwin’s midlife experiences giving
insight into the foundation of his work and the adventures and
struggles he faced that encouraged his writing. It allows us to explore
the reasoning behind his work and where his ideas came from.
- Moved to paris in 1948
Wanted to escape the racial oppression of America
Experienced a form of personal freedom and started his writings
about race, identity and culture
- Encountered European writers, thinkers, and artists such as Jean-Paul
Sartre and Richard Wright
- Never lost sight of where he came from
- Used France as a discovery of himself
- Outspoken during the Algerian War
Wrote about it in ‘No name in the Street”
- Went to Switzerland to write in the quite
Stranger in the village: essay about the first reactions of people
towards a black man
Finished his first novel “Go Tell it On the Mountain”
- Wrote a lot of autobiographical work
- Idea was that Christianity could expand
Include more people, including white people
The Baptist Church that he grew up in believed that saved people
were black and doomed people were white
- Wrote Giovanni’s room in 1954
About going to Europe, finding something then losing it
It was about something that tormented and frightened him, the
question of his own sexuality
Nobody could blackmail him because he told the world
- He was not closeted nor running around announcing it
- Returned to New York in the late 50s
- Went to Turkey to escape the problem of intimate relationships with
blacks and whites
Got invited by a Turkish actor he met in NY
He felt near his roots
Finished his passage “Another Country”
About blacks and whites trying to connect
Most successful book yet
New York best sellers list
Translated into 200 languages
- Could not write a novel if he was not living life by eating, drinking and
staying up late
“If I lived a safe, quiet life, I wouldn’t be living life”
- Although skeptical about the Kennedy’s he felt the need to return to
America to be apart of what was happening
Impossible for him to sit in France or Turkey while a very important
movement was taking place in his own country
Dorothy Counts was spotted by the mob while trying to go to school,
this sparked decision for him to return
Went to the south and fell in love with the people
- 16 year old on tv spoke to him when he said “I got no country, I got no
flag”
- Suffered being pulled in one direction
By demands of his art
His moral need to do what he was good at; preaching the gospel of
equality and of revolution
Gods gift to him
- Made a note for the work which resulted in “The Fire Next Time”
Discussed the need to write an essay
Wanted to tell white Americans what it means to be black
Was written as a plea to black and white people about America
Wrote in a language that fairly educated white, middle class people
could understand and become more sympathetic to civil writes
One of the greatest documents of the 20th century
- Never knew if you could trust most white Christians
Couldn’t trust the Christian church, labor unions and their bosses,
real estate lobbyists, Board of education
Real estate lobbyists keep him in the ghetto
Textbooks are evidence of the Board of Education’s hatred towards
black people
- Part of his disillusionment was some of the people in New York were not
really liberals
Blacks were the first to attack liberalism
“as long as you think you are white, im gonna be forced to think I
am black”
- “Blues for Mister Charlie”
Came when black people were not going to the theater
Nothing for them to go for
Play about class struggle
Considered a terrible thing because it spoke the truth
Near the End
- Thesis: This section displays a turn in Baldwin’s life, emphasizing the
depression he had due to the experiences of death and intense living
while being back in America. It shares his final projects, while also
shedding light on his final move out of America, and final moments
before his passing.
- Believed that no writer who ever lived could write a line without a
message
- When Malcolm X got assassinated, something happened to him
They were killing his friends for no valid reason
- He was split by a desire by a love, desire for love, and of communion
on one hand, and on the other hand by an understanding that as long
as the system existed the way it did there was no such thing as getting
together
Loathed violence so he could never truly join the militants who rose
in the 1960s
- Believed that love has never been a popular movement and that no
one ever want to really be free
World is held together by the love and passion of few people
- Wrote a letter from new York April 12th, 1968
Wrote how he couldn’t write anymore and about the murders of his
friends
- Had moments of depression coming back from America because he
lived intensely there
Wasn’t in good health for a while
Heart had gone off and he needed serious treatments
- Came south of France and spent months getting his health together
He bought a house in the village because it was what kept him alive
They looked after him, protected him in ways that America wouldn’t
protect him
Found a place where he could work again
- Could not write in America because he was a public person and said “A
public person cannot write”
- Wrote “If Beale Street Could Talk”
First novel since leaving America
Bitter book because he was disillusioned by the assassination of
Malcolm X and MLK
Called a post-revolutionary novel; all injustices remain police
brutality
He was angry at injustice, ignorance, exploitation, stupidity and
vulgarity
- Spent a large part of his later years teaching and writing
Lectured all over the country
Taught for several years in Amherst
He allowed for his black students to write what they want because it
was his experiences too
- Most people agree he was a hero, an adventurer that didn’t take the
easy way
- Gave black people an example and inspired them to write
- On April first he had an examination that found cancer
He knew it was serious but he had things to do
Would say “I’m skating on my reputation now”, “I gotta do
something else”
- Rewrote a play “The Welcome Table”
Gave up on his novel
- Last letter he wrote was on July 4th , 1987
Wrote with arthritis
- He grew quiet and nobody spoke about him dying
- He went to Yvon for his last place
One night he couldn’t swallow anymore and they knew it was time
David and Bernard were with him and accompanied him during his
final moments
- Everybody who came into contact with him had their lives changed
Mark of a real preacher and prophet
Reflection:
- I appreciated the work of Baldwin and his fight and determination to
never give up. The work he did and the words he spoke brought me
chills when listening to him speak throughout the documentary. I loved
actually being able to hear and see him in comparison to some of the
older activists we have discussed in class. It brought some form of
peace to me to hear and see him for him. The way he is not discussed
more often reminds me of Bayard Rustin and how given their sexuality
they are put on the back burner. It was so interesting to learn and see
the pain that he experienced with the death of MLK because this as
well reminded me of Bayard Rustin and just the fact we hear and learn
so much about MLK but not other activists around him. I am grateful to
learn about Baldwin because it put a lot more things into perspective
for me just how bad it was in America considering he had to leave, as
well as majority of the other activists we have studied. The way he
writes you can really feel the words spoken, when reading “Going to
Meet the Man” it was a little difficult for me given the context but I am
glad this sis something he spoke on because the racial and sexual
violence is something to be discussed.