James Baldwin: The fire this time - from Harlem to Ferguson
In 1963, James Baldwin wrote, "To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."
It's a measure of the enduring relevance of the great African-American novelist, playwright and essayist that those words seem as pertinent this week, in the aftermath of the Ferguson verdict and riots, as they did half a century ago.
Baldwin was a fierce, but fair-minded and rigorous social critic. His opinions were neither sugar-coated, nor always welcome. But if they made people uncomfortable, it was because of the truths with which he pricked the conscience.
James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924, 90 years ago. His upbringing was difficult and tumultuous. His father was a drug addict. His stepfather was an austere preacher who was abusive to him. And being an openly gay black man, he was forced to endure maddening prejudice.
He exiled himself to Paris as a young man, appalled by the racist and homophobic discrimination of America and seeking to become a writer - not a black writer or a gay writer or a gay black writer, but a writer, period.
In France, Baldwin became one of the greatest American writers of his time. In his classic novels, such as Go Tell It On The Mountain, Giovanni's Room and Another Country, he insisted on both the complex realities of people's lives and the simple fact of their humanity.
Baldwin also became a leader of the civil rights movement. His became a national political and cultural figure with 1963 book of essays, The Fire Next Time, a book that presaged the race riots that inflamed Watts, Newark, Detroit and other cities throughout the rest of the 60s.
Baldwin died of cancer in 1987 at the age of 63. But to mark his 90th birthday, a number of cultural groups in New York have proclaimed this to be the Year of James Baldwin.
One of those groups is New York Live Arts, a performance group that stages the annual Live Ideas Festival. This year, it was called James Baldwin, This Time!, which re-imagined the writings and legacy of Baldwin through dance, music, drama and visual arts.
Bill T. Jones is the executive artistic director of New York Live Arts, and he's one of the most celebrated dancers and choreographers in the United States. He's been the subject of several television documentaries, and his boatload of awards includes two Tony Awards for choreography, a 2010 Kennedy Center Honor and the 2013 National Medal of Arts. His new book is called Story/Time: The Life of an Idea.