''The Fire Next Time'' is a 1963

non-fiction Non-fiction (or nonfiction) is any document or content (media), media content that attempts, in good faith, to convey information only about the real life, real world, rather than being grounded in imagination. Non-fiction typically aims to pre ...

book by

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

, containing two

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s: "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" and "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region of My Mind". The book's title comes from a couplet in some versions of " Mary Don't You Weep", an African-American spiritual. The same lyric has been used in another spiritual entitled "God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign": The first essay, written in the form of a letter to Baldwin's 14-year-old nephew, discusses the central role of race in

American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

. The second essay, which takes up the majority of the book, deals with the relations between race and religion, focusing in particular on Baldwin's experiences with the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

church as a youth, as well as the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

's ideals and influence in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

. The two essays were first published separately in American magazines in late 1962: "Letter from a Region in My Mind" in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and "My Dungeon Shook" in ''

The Progressive ''The Progressive'' is a left-leaning American magazine and website covering politics and culture. Founded in 1909 by U.S. senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. and co-edited with his wife Belle Case La Follette, it was originally called ''La Foll ...

''. They were combined and published in book form in 1963 by The Dial Press, and in 1964 in Britain by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

. The book was enthusiastically received by critics, and is considered one of the most influential books about

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in th ...

in the 1960s. It was released as an audiobook in 2008, narrated by Jesse L. Martin.

Content

The book includes two essays that were written in the 1960s during a time of

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

between White and Black Americans. In his essays, Baldwin's purpose was to reach a mass white audience and help them to better understand Black Americans' struggle for equal rights. Looking at the time period in which Baldwin's essays were published shows how purposefully each essay was constructed. At the time, the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to recognize the need for publicity, in particular "story-telling that would generate public support for the movement's people and goals". This was the context in which Baldwin's essays were first published. What made Baldwin's essays effective is that they were testimonial. Giving testimonial evidence about how racism in America has operated in real people's lives is an effective strategy for connecting with an audience that is otherwise unaware. The book met both the need of the Civil Rights Movement for publicity and an unspoken need of white audiences who did not understand the movement or the lives of the people involved. Although many of the ideas that Baldwin writes about in his essays were not novel to black intellectualism, the way in which they were presented to their audience was. Baldwin's writings profoundly "provoked and challenged the dominant white American frame for understanding race relations" during the time that they were first published.

"My Dungeon Shook"

The first essay, originally appearing in ''

'' magazine in 1962 and titled "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation", is a letter to Baldwin's nephew in which he compares his nephew to the men in their family including Baldwin's brother and father. He tells his nephew about America's ability to destroy Black men and challenges his nephew to convert his anger due to mistreatment as a Black man into having a passionate and broad outlook on the African-American experience.

"Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in my Mind"

The second essay originally appeared in ''The New Yorker'' (1962) under the title "Letter from a Region in My Mind". Titled in the book as "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in my Mind", the essay addresses the detriment of Christianity on the Black community and Baldwin's journey from being a teen pastor to completely pulling away from the church because it felt like a repression of his full experience of humanity. He then recounts his dinner with

Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole; October 7, 1897 – February 25, 1975) was an American religious leader, black separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1933 until his death in 197 ...

where Muhammad educated Baldwin on the

in the hope of getting him to join the movement. In this section Baldwin describes how Black Muslims have made a "black god" to avoid the oppression of a "white god" that Christianity has established within the Black community.

Responses

Jacquelyn Dowd Hall wrote an article that focused on the civil rights movement, led by

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

, building on Baldwin's work. Baldwin's piece examined the issue of racism mainly in his area of Harlem, New York, and Hall emphasized that the racial issue they confronted in America was not a sectional but a national problem. Another article that expands on Baldwin's new religious view was written by Jon Nilson, a theology professor. In ''The Fire Next Time'', Baldwin focused on how Christianity was corrupted. Observing that Baldwin challenged the Catholic Church, Nilson said that the April 1968

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr., an American civil rights activist, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05& ...

had almost seemed like ''The Fire Next Time'' had come true. In December 2016, '' Can I Get a Witness? The Gospel of James Baldwin'', a 2016 musical theatrical tribute to Baldwin by the musician

Meshell Ndegeocello Meshell Ndegeocello ( ; born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her mid-career work. ...

and based on ''The Fire Next Time'' was premiered at the Harlem Stage in Harlem. In July 2015,

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author, journalist, and activist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political is ...

wrote an article in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' as an updated version of Baldwin's letter to his nephew called "Letter to My Son", and later published an entire book called '' Between the World and Me'' that talks about the modern Black experience in America.
- The title was alluded to in

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...

' book ''America, 1968: The Fire This Time''. It was also alluded to in ''The Fire This Time'' (anthology), edited by

Jesmyn Ward Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is an American novelist and a professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Next Time, The 1963 non-fiction books Dial Press books Essay collections by James Baldwin Non-fiction books about racism Works originally published in The New Yorker