Words — both written and spoken — were James Baldwin’s greatest gift to America and to people of all races all over the world. He knew how to electrify readers, his insights about what it meant to be black in America were both intimate and accessible. He preached brotherhood, not violence, with searing honesty; his truth was laced with pain and anger. But he never lost hope – and his clarion call for human equality, human progress, helped shape our nation’s history.
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An encore of James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket (original broadcast August 14, 1989) is scheduled for Friday, August 23 at 9pm on PBS in honor of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington (8/28/1963). This broadcast also coincides with the 25th anniversary of James Baldwin’s death (12/1/1987) and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation (1/1/1863).
