James
Baldwin
he preeminent African American intellectual of his era,
James Baldwin wrote Giovanni's Room (1956), which was
one of the first novels written in the U.S. to deal openly with
homosexuality; a subject previously explored in his essay 'Preservation
of Innocence' (1949). In it he addressed the charge that homosexuality
was "unnatural" by questioning how something "as old as mankind"
itself could possibly be regarded as anything but natural. Though
he had spoken extensively about the Black Civil Rights Movement,
Baldwin was not asked to play a visible role in the 1963 March on
Washington because his homosexuality was considered a liability by its
organizers. Nonetheless, as an openly gay man, he became increasingly
outspoken in condemning discrimination against lesbian and gay
people, offering a vital literary voice during the turbulent era of civil
rights activism in the 1950s and '60s. He remains one of the most
influential U.S. authors of all time.
INFLUENCIAL PEOPLE
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