Guest Author - Dianne Rosena Jones The 60’s brought forth the
Civil Rights Era and the 70’s ushered in the Black Power
Movement. Writings about Slavery & Jim Crow gave way to
published works of poetry, novels about black love, black
hardship, black life, and the introduction of urban fiction.
Black authors were intellectual, proud, daring, defiant, and
bold. James Baldwin was a prominent writer in the 60’s.
Although, his most notable work “Go tell it on the Mountain” was
published in 1953, controversy swirled his writings in the 60’s.
Many of his writings dealt with the complexities and challenges
of being a homosexual. Baldwin moved to Paris to avoid the
discrimination of being Black and Gay, but he continued to write
and publish novels and essays in America. His lengthy essay
called “The Fire Next Time” was published in two issues of the
New York Times and he was featured on the cover of “Time”
magazine in 1963. James also wrote a book-length essay in the
late 60’s that dealt with the assassinations of thre