James Baldwin – 1924–1987

Born into poverty in Harlem, Baldwin became a revivalist preacher at age 14, graduated from high school, and embarked on a period of self-education that led to his first novel, the autobiographical Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), the first of many eloquently incisive works dealing with race in America. Baldwin emerged not only as a major literary talent, but a stirring voice in the Civil Rights movement.