celebrating james baldwin's 100th birthday two ways

Celebrating James Baldwin (1924 – 1987)

August 2nd, 2024, marks the 100th birthday of James Baldwin, the legendary American writer and civil rights activist. Baldwin wrote thoughtfully and passionately about the intersection of race and class in America, establishing himself as one of the most important voices of the 20th century. He was also among the first Black writers to include queer themes in fiction. He is perhaps best known for his novels Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) and Another Country (1962), his plays The Amen Corner (1954) and Blues for Mister Charlie (1964), and his essay collections Nobody Knows My Name (1961) and The Fire Next Time (1963).

Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Baldwin completed his studies before settling in Paris, France, at the age of 24, where he spent nine years. He returned to New York in 1954, closely following the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in his homeland and raising public awareness of racial and sexual oppression. He died in 1987, but his legacy persists, inspiring creatives across the globe, while his timely voice still resonates with current events.

To celebrate Baldwin’s 100th birthday, the Smithsonian Institution presents an expansive retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Titled This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, the exhibition runs until April 20th, 2025, featuring photography and archival images that pay homage to the black queer literary icon. Meanwhile, TASCHEN honors the emblematic writer with a new edition of his nonfiction book The Fire Next Time, illustrated with photography by Steve Schapiro.

James Baldwin, Anthony Barboza (born 1944) / Reproduction of gelatin silver print from 1975 / Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; gift of the Loewentheil Family

Smithsonian’s homage to James Baldwin & Queer Resistance

Paying tribute to the ever-lasting legacy of James Baldwin, the Smithsonian Institute (find more here) presents This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance at the National Portrait Gallery. Featuring photography of Baldwin and his close friends Medgar Evers, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, and Lorraine Hansberry, the show also includes memorabilia reflecting the era of the Civil Rights Movement and the way Baldwin was shaped by and shaped it. Exhibited items feature a portrait of James Baldwin painted by Beauford Delaney, handwritten notes by Bayard Rustin on civil rights and gay identity, a letter between James Baldwin and Orilla ‘Bill Miller’ Winfield, Lorraine Hansberry’s memoir To Be Young, Gifted and Black, editions of The Ladder, one of the earliest lesbian serial publications in the US, and many more archival pieces. This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance, which takes part of its title from a short story Baldwin published in The Atlantic in 1960, is ‘an homage to Black queer force as it continues to live and feed this nation’s activist spirit,’ says the Washington-based gallery. 

Untitled (Photographs of James Baldwin in and around Istanbul, Turkey), Sedat Pakay (1945–2016) / Digital slide projection of photographs from c. 1968 / Courtesy of the Estate of Sedat Pakay | Selection by Hilton Als

Taschen presents James Baldwin. Steve Schapiro. The Fire Next Time

First published in 1963, James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time addressed America’s so-called ‘Negro problem’ with a frank, personal account of the Black experience in the United States. It is one of the most passionate and influential explorations of 1960s race relations, weaving themes of love, faith, and family into a candid critique of the hypocrisy in the ‘land of the free.’ Now, TASCHEN (find more here) reprints Baldwin’s powerful and timeless prose alongside over 100 photographs by Steve Schapiro, who traveled through the American South with Baldwin for LIFE magazine. Schapiro’s images capture vital moments and figures of the civil rights movement, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Fred Shuttlesworth, and Jerome Smith, as well as landmark events like the March on Washington and the Selma march. This edition also includes Schapiro’s stories from the field, an original introduction by civil rights legend and U.S. Congressman John Lewis, captions by journalist Marcia Davis, and an essay by Baldwin’s sister, Gloria Baldwin Karefa-Smart, who was with him in Sierra Leone when he began the book.

the cover of James Baldwin. Steve Schapiro. The Fire Next Time | image courtesy of TASCHEN

Untitled (photograph of James Baldwin in Istanbul, Turkey) [detail] / Sedat Pakay (1945 – 2016) / Reproduction of photograph from c. 1968 / © Sedat Pakay

Nina Simone with James Baldwin, Bernard Gotfryd (1924–2016) / Gelatin silver prints, 1965 / Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

James Baldwin with Diana Sands and Burgess Meredith, opening night of Blues for Mister Charlie, Unidentified photographer / Gelatin silver print, 1964 / Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

TASCHEN reprints Baldwin’s powerful prose alongside over 100 photographs by Steve Schapiro | image courtesy of TASCHEN

image courtesy of TASCHEN

Bayard Rustin (1912–1987) and Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), Unidentified photographer / Gelatin silver print, 1962 / Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

image courtesy of TASCHEN

image courtesy of TASCHEN

James Baldwin, Beauford Delaney (1901–1979) / Pastel on paper, 1963 / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

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The Ladder, Daughters of Bilitis, 1957 / Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society

To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words, Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) and Robert Nemiroff (1929–1991) / Prentice Hall, 1969 / Private collection

The Movement: Documentary of a Struggle for Equality, Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965) / Simon and Schuster / 1964 Private collection

Black Gold, Nina Simone (1933–2003) / RCA records, 1970 / Collection of Hilton Als

Notes by Bayard Rustin on civil rights and gay identity, c. 1986, Bayard Rustin Papers / Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C

Bayard Rustin’s fingerprints, 1946, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

project info: 

name: This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance
location: National Portrait Gallery | @smithsoniannpg in Washington, DC
dates: July 12th, 2024 – April 20th, 2025

name: James Baldwin. Steve Schapiro. The Fire Next Time
author: James Baldwin
photography: Steve Schapiro
published by: TASCHEN | @taschen