Essay - Notes of a Native Son James Baldwin Published His Book...

Notes of a Native Son

***** Baldwin published his book Notes ***** a ***** Son in 1955 at the urging of his friend Sol Stein. The book is a collection of nine essays he had written on t***** s*****ate of what were then called "Negroes" in the United States. In his essays, he noted the interface between his personal life, the social atmosphere ***** the day, the political movements of the *****, and even what was going on in entertainment. ***** result is essays that give a view ***** the Negro experience in ***** 1950's that is both broad and deep.

***** of the issues presented in ***** ***** seem dated based ***** today's racial attitudes, but Baldwin does such a good job of providing details and examples that ***** reader leaves the book with a clear picture ***** the status of Blacks, and race relations, in the decade before our country began to actively work *****ward true equality for all.

In several ***** his essays, ***** looks at how Blacks have been portrayed ***** in older literature, such as Uncle Tom's Cab*****, and in more modern works, such ***** Gone with the Wind, The Sound and the Fury, If He Hollers Let Him Go and Native Son, as well as the movie Carmen Jones.

As he does this, of course, Baldwin does it from his perspective of Black *****, which included ***** perception that while to be Black ***** not good, having lighter skin was *****tter than having darker skin. He gave extensive ***** of t***** from Uncle ***** Cabin, where many ***** the most important Black characters ***** *****-skinned ***** used that fact to their advantage. He described Uncle Tom's Cabin as overly sentimental, but then described a significant problem w*****h writing about race in over-sentimental ways: it distances the reader ***** the people because the emotions reported and generated aren't real. He did recognize ***** Uncle Tom's Cabin w***** a ***** ***** *****s time, but also noted that attitude regarding ***** ***** in 1950's America. He also ackno*****ledge that it was not a ***** issue only, cit*****g Little Women as an example of similar writing not related to race. Thus, ***** Baldwin's ***** reflect ***** reality of being Black in the 1950's, he revealed his broader experiences with people ***** all kinds of races. This is exemplified by ***** Stein's influence on him to produce this book.

He notes the great difficulties when *****s *****d Whites got together socially in the fifties: Whites were likely to be criticized by other Whites while the Negroes would ***** accused -- ***** o*****r Negroes -- of being untrue to their race. He does not criticize these Blacks for making such judgments, however. Instead he lists the rich social and cultural world ***** the *****n Black and reflects it back to the reader as something ***** be cherished and valued. While we take this ***** as a given tod*****y, in the fifties it may ***** *****en an uncommon idea, at least