“Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.”

American writer and civil rights activist

James Baldwin was an American writer and civil rights activist. Born in 1924 and active through much of the 20th century, he became known for essays, novels, plays, and poems that spoke with unusual force about race, identity, and human equality. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain brought him wide attention, and Notes of a Native Son, published in 1955, helped establish him as a major public voice. He was also a notable orator, especially during the civil rights movement in the United States, and his 1965 debate with William F. Buckley is often remembered as a defining public exchange.