James Baldwin's Centennial

(Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family.)

Cullen convinced Baldwin to attend his own alma mater, the largely Jewish, prestigious DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, considered one of the top public schools in the city. There he edited the school literary magazine Magpie and participated in the literary club, (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture)

A typewritten letter from Alex Haley to James Baldwin in which Haley critiques a “Pittsburg Courier's" article about Malcolm X. There is a handwritten note...at the bottom...signed in green ink by Haley. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family.)

A May 6, 1955 press release from Howard University announcing the upcoming premiere performance of "The Amen Corner." This press release contains a handwritten note by James Baldwin on the back referencing the legacy of "my father."
(Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family.)

An April 28, 1964 letter to James Baldwin from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's communications director, Julian Bond, inviting Baldwin to hear testimony from "Negro Mississippians about violations of civil rights..." in Washington D.C. The letter was signed by Bond, who coordinated the July 9, 1964 hearings. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family.)

A copy of a 1976 commentary in the Los Angeles Times titled, "Looking for the Bicentennial Man." The article discusses Baldwin's views on the state of the United States 200 years after its independence. Baldwin was invited by the LA Times to write this article while residing in the South of France. (Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of The Baldwin Family.)