He was very outspoken during the Algerian War, when they had been trying to win their freedom from France in the 50's. As Jimmy said, they were the niggers of France.
But among the people they did not want in France were the Algerians. And black Americans who went there, from Richard Wright to Sidney Bechet, were so colorful and so talented and so marvelous and so exotic- Who wouldn't want them? Of course. It simply didn't have any guilt vis-à-vis black Americans. Maya Angelou: “France was not without its race prejudices. It comes as a great shock to discover that the country which is your birthplace, and to which you owe your life and your identity, has not in its whole system of reality evolved any place for you.”ĭr. It comes as a great shock to discover that Gary Cooper killing off the Indians, when you were rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians were you. James Baldwin: “It comes as a great shock around the age of five or six or seven to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledged allegiance to you.
These themes – with on-camera comments from the film, selected written texts and related resources as starting points for discussion – connect us to Baldwin’s larger world, to the complex web of events and ideas from which he came.