James Baldwin was one of the most important authors, no, one of the most important human beings in the history of 20th century America. A civil rights movement activist who didn’t see himself as an activist. A man who fled the persecution and racism of the United States, only to come back over and over again because he could not stay silent about the horrors inflicted on Black Americans. He was a black man and a gay man, living during a period when both were shunned and persecuted by the country in which he was born and in which he was deeply invested. This episode contains a short history of Mr. James Baldwin, plus his 1963 speech, “The Free And The Brave”. Music is by The Bollweevils, Kira Jari and Danny Denial. PSA’s of the episode are from The National Black Theatre and Showing Up For Racial Justice. Please listen with an open heart and mind, you may learn something, like I did making the episode.