Postcard sent by James Baldwin to Beauford Delaney
James Baldwin’s revisions to draft of “Notes of a Native Son”
Ernest E. Goodman (1922–1993)
Howard University News
Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Relations, Howard University, May 6, 1955
James Baldwin Papers, Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Howard University News
Like his first novel, Baldwin’s first major play, The Amen Corner, is informed by his teenage experiences with the church. A teaser for the first production—performed by the Howard University Players—appears in this issue of Howard University News.
Baldwin used the blank backs of extra copies of the newsletter to draft his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” which appeared in the collection of the same name and deals with the death of his stepfather. The typescript page on view nearby presents a memory from Baldwin’s youth minister days in which his stepfather, in a rare moment of real conversation between the two, asks: “You’d rather write than preach, wouldn’t you?”
: Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in…
Currently on View at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
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