James Baldwin

Mporium Baldwin shirt - later withdrawn.

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Baldwin interviews & clips were often used as part of the pre-show videos prior to concerts.
True-To-You.net advertised a James Baldwin t-shirt on March 15, 2017 which would be available via North American concerts & Mporium.

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born - August 2, 1924; died - November 30, 1987

Novelist, playwright, poet and essayist. He gained fame with "Go Tell It on the Mountain", his first novel. Much of his work focussed on racial and sexual issues, including the issues related to being homosexual and black, well before both groups could be said to have any sense of equality.

Gay themes in books such as "Giovanni's Room" and "Another Country" brought heavy criticism from the black community. Conversely his essay collections, such as "The Fire Next Time" are considered to have awakened a white audience to a black mans perspective of racism.

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Wikipedia Information

James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an African-American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels. His 1955 essay collection Notes of a Native Son helped establish his reputation as a voice for human equality. Baldwin was an influential public figure and orator, especially during the civil rights movement in the United States. Baldwin's fiction posed fundamental personal questions and dilemmas amid complex social and psychological pressures. Themes of masculinity, sexuality, race, and class intertwine to create intricate narratives that influenced both the civil rights movement and the gay liberation movement in mid-twentieth century America. His protagonists are often but not exclusively African-American; gay and bisexual men feature prominently in his work (as in his 1956 novel Giovanni's Room). His characters typically face internal and external obstacles in their search for self- and social acceptance. Baldwin's work continues to influence artists and writers. His unfinished manuscript Remember This House was expanded and adapted as the 2016 documentary film I Am Not Your Negro, winning the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary. His 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk was adapted into a 2018 film of the same name, which earned widespread praise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin