One hundred and one years since his birth, James Baldwin’s voice remains as urgent, eloquent, and essential as ever. His legacy lives on in the ways his life and work continue to echo through every conversation about race, identity, love, art, and power.
The world has caught up to some of what he tried to tell us.
But much of it, we’re still struggling to truly hear.
So today, on what would have been his 101st birthday, let’s keep his candles lit—and do our best to listen. Baldwin’s calls for basic human rights, reason, and respect are as vital now as they’ve ever been.
Whether you’re revisiting his work or discovering it for the first time, I offer you this curated list of books, essays, and videos to help illuminate Baldwin’s brilliant legacy:
BOOKS
Notes of a Native Son (1955)
Giovanni’s Room (1956)
The Fire Next Time (1963)
No Name in the Street (1972)
If Beale Street Could Talk (1974)
ESSAYS
"Letter from a Region in My Mind" (1962, The New Yorker)
"Redefining James Baldwin" (2024, The New Yorker)
VIDEOS
I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
Baldwin left us a roadmap for confronting the deep roots of historic and systemic racism—not a simple path, and certainly not a comfortable one. His work challenges us to face hard truths about injustice, identity, and the American dream.
Yet even as his POV is unsettling, it’s also inspiring, illuminated by his unmatched clarity, moral courage, and a fierce, enduring beauty. His words don’t just expose what’s broken. They invite us to imagine what could be healed.
So on what would have been his 101st birthday, please take some time to read his words. Please take some time to watch and listen to him speak. And, if you’re so moved, please do your part to carry his legacy forward and keep his memory alive.
Keep calm and carry on!
Clint 🌈✌️
COLLIDE PRESS is a reader-supported publication.
Please consider becoming a Paid Subscriber or Patron.
Thanks for reading COLLIDE PRESS!
This post is public, so feel free to share it.
ON THIS DAY = AUGUST 2
BIRTHDAYS
1892 = Jack L. Warner = Canadian-born American film and Warner Bros. co-founder
1899 = Charles Bennett = English director and screenwriter
1905 = Myrna Loy = American actor
1914 = Beatrice Straight = American actor
1916 = Alfonso A. Ossorio = American painter and sculptor
1917 = Wah Chang = American artist and designer
1922 = Betsy Bloomingdale = American philanthropist and socialite
1924 = Carroll O'Connor = American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1924 = James Baldwin = American novelist, poet, and critic 🌈
1932 = Peter O'Toole = British-Irish actor and producer
1935 = Hank Cochran = American singer-songwriter
1939 = Wes Craven = American filmmaker
1942 = Isabel Allende = Chilean-American writer
1945 = Joanna Cassidy = American actor
1948 = Snoo Wilson = English playwright and screenwriter
1951 = Andrew Gold = American singer-songwriter
1951 = Joe Lynn Turner = American singer-songwriter
1953 = Butch Patrick = American actor
1959 = Victoria Jackson = American actor and singer
1964 = Mary-Louise Parker = American actor
1970 = Kevin Smith = American actor and filmmaker
1976 = Sam Worthington = English-Australian actor and producer
1977 = Edward Furlong = American actor
1992 = Charli XCX = English singer-songwriter
1994 = Cr1TiKaL (aka MoistCr1TiKaL and Penguinz0 = American YouTuber and Twitch streamer
EVENTS
1776 = The US Declaration of Independence is signed.
1784 = The first British mail coach service ran from Bristol to London.
1790 = The first United States Census is conducted.
1870 = Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens.
1873 = The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco's famous cable car system.
1932 = Carl David Anderson proves the existence of antimatter with the discovery of the positron, for which he later receives a Nobel Prize in Physics.
1937 = The Marihuana Tax Act is passed in the US, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.
1971 = The English rock band the Who released Who's Next, their only album to top the UK charts.
1982 = The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system of Finland, is opened to the general public.
1985 = Weird Science is released in theaters.
1989 = Parenthood is released in theaters.
HOLIDAYS + OBSERVANCES
PORTRAIT + QUOTES OF THE DAY
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”
James Baldwin
“Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.”
James Baldwin
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
James Baldwin
Thanks Clint and James Baldwin. Sent you a Ko-Fi the other day. ☘🐰🌈