James Baldwin (1978)

James Baldwin explored the painful complexities of truth. His self-exploration, Notes of a Native Son, tells us that the fight against all injustice begins in the heart. Nobody Knows My Name reminds us that “one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one’s own.” Baldwin warned us of The Fire Next Time by asking a bold question on behalf of generations of African Americans persistently denied inclusion in U.S. society: “Why would I want to integrate into a burning house?” Baldwin’s novella Giovanni’s Room explores the complexities of Black homosexuality and interracial love. He fashioned a critical patriotism, writing, “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”