James Baldwin: The Witness. A portrait

James Baldwin is one of the most iconic intellectuals of the 20th century - this year, the exceptional American author and irreplaceable activist for the civil rights movement would have turned 100 years old. Even during his lifetime, his novels Giovanni's Room and Another Country as well as the essay The Fire Next Time made him world-famous and landed him on the cover of Time magazine. But Baldwin was black and gay. The US society in which he lived was racist and homophobic. This tension gave rise to a unique work that opened wide the gates through which generations of activists passed after him. In his elegantly written portrait, Baldwin expert René Aguigah, head of the literature department at Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, outlines Baldwin's life from growing up in poverty in Harlem to his escape to Paris, his rapid rise, his relationships with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Above all, however, Aguigah embarks on a search for what Baldwin still has to tell us today. It explores the relationship between his artistry and activism and his advocacy for minorities. Aguigah portrays James Baldwin as a witness - of a time of violence and injustice that continues to this day.

Admission: € 8 / 5 (CSH members)
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Event language: German