Placing 'The Fire Next Time' in historical context ...

And Equating it to OUR Times

If you read BALDWIN you will recall the very first paragraph of the second section (p. 14 in our files) that begins:

________I had heard a great deal, long before I finally met him, of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and of the Nation of Islam movement, of which he is the leader.

I paid very little attention to what I heard, because the burden of his message did not strike me as being very original; I had been hearing variations of it all my life.

I sometimes found myself in Harlem on Saturday nights, and I stood in the crowds, at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue, and listened to the Muslim speakers.

But I had heard hundreds of such speeches—or so it seemed to me at first.

Anyway, I have long had a very definite tendency to tune out the moment I come anywhere near either a pulpit or a soapbox.

The description of the orator is captured in the attendant video in this module: "The Black Man is the Original Man."

It is from the same year and may be the same man Baldwin captures in his book.

Going through these admittedly difficult videos that capture real American history, we remember that the Civil Rights struggle was paid for in human blood -- African-American and Allies of all races -- and that we are forever grateful for the sacrifices of our ancestors.

Ase! ~