‘James Baldwin author, poet and activist is a legendary figure in literature and US Civil Rights history. He marched with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, debated at Cambridge, argued with US presidents and gave incredible speeches. He spent a great deal of time in London and often lent his status to support local anti-racist campaigners.
The 18th May 1953, is when Baldwins first book ‘Go Tell it on the Mountain’ was published. That book launched his stellar career where he produced classics like the Fire Next Time,If Beale Street could Talk and Notes of a Native Son etc.
In July 1985, Baldwin visited the CLR James library in Hackney. Hackney council had declared 1985 a Year of Anti-Racism. The library had been re-named after the Pan-Africanist historian and author of the revolutionary ‘Black Jacobins’, CLR James, due to intense activism by local anti-racist groups.
In the early 1980s the Hackney Ethnic Minorities Library Consultative Committee had picketed offices, occupied the Town Hall, lobbied, campaigned and successfully got the libraries to stock Black history books and remove racist literature.
On the Friday 17th May 10am 2024 we will unveil a Nubian Jak Blue Plaque to recognise Baldwin’s presence and the link to Black British Civil rights.’
Christian Høgsbjerg - Historian 