The community of Harlem is a point of departure for a daylong celebration of this monumental author and the only book exploring children that James Baldwin ever produced.Ĭelebrating James Baldwin 11:00am - 1:00pm:ġ1:40am - 12:10pm: Little Poems Little Poemsīefore and after this program from 11-1, the Museum will be an ongoing site for independent artmaking in the Museum’s Living Room, and Studio Labs.

TJ’s Bash is a colorful day of art-making activities, storytelling, poetry, and music. Little Man Little Man, not only illustrates the austerity of 1970s Harlem from an innocent child's perspective but expands our appreciation for one of America’s greatest writers. Little Man Little Man is a coming of age story about TJ, a child with big dreams, in a world of grown-up adventures.

This book also features a foreword by Baldwin’s nephew Tejan 'TJ' Karefa-Smart, an afterword by his niece Aisha Karefa-Smart, and introduction by Baldwin scholars Nicholas Boggs and Jennifer DeVere Brody. You can read more on Baldwin's life in this short biography, and on his influence on Coates in this article appearing in The Atlantic.The Museum is proud to contribute to a citywide celebration of the work of James Baldwin. Now available for the first time in forty years, is a new edition of Little Man, Little Man-with illustrations by French artist Yoran Cazac. He has left an indelible mark on the culture of the United States and, indeed, the world, and is cited as a strong influence by many contemporary authors, one of the most prominent of which is Ta-Nehisi Coates. He also struggled with his own sexuality, a theme that was reflected in his fiction and later essays. His visionary works attacked American race relations from a psychological perspective, and demonstrated the harm that racial inequality had on both the oppressed and the oppressor. James Baldwin, born in New York City in August of 1924, was one of the most prominent and eloquent speakers, essayists, and novelists of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Now, later on, you wonder what in the world the truth is, but you do know what a lie is. In the church in which I was raised you were supposed to bear witness to the truth.

Perhaps I did not succumb to ideology, as you put it, because I have never seen myself as a spokesman.

Little man little man by james baldwin