45 pages • 1 hour read
James BaldwinA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Baldwin argues that the North is a reflection of the South. A Black person in the North who visits the South feels similar to an Italian American visiting Italy for the first time. Baldwin feels this while visiting Georgia. As his plane touches ground, he thinks about the experiences of his ancestors on Southern soil and the many tales of violence and hardship Black people have faced in the state.
Baldwin breaks down the social hierarchy of the city of Atlanta and the differences between the Black people who live in the city versus those who live in rural areas. Baldwin proposes that Atlanta is the perfect parallel for the American South. He highlights the divide between the wealthy Black and white residents in the city. Wealthy Black Atlanteans feel separated from both their white and Black peers.
He juxtaposes Atlanta with Charlotte, North Carolina, a bourgeois town where only four students have been assigned to integrate into previously all-white schools. Their parents are willing to face discrimination and violence to ensure a better education for their children. Baldwin asserts that segregated societies always perpetuate low levels of education. Children know that they are not being given a quality education, despite arguments of “separate but equal”: “They also know why they are going to an over-crowded, outmoded plant, in classes so large that even the most strictly attentive student, the most gifted teacher cannot but feel himself slowly drowning in the sea of general helplessness” (106).
By James Baldwin
Another Country
James Baldwin
A Talk to Teachers
James Baldwin
Blues for Mister Charlie
James Baldwin
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin
Going To Meet The Man
James Baldwin
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin
I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin
If Beale Street Could Talk
James Baldwin
If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?
James Baldwin
No Name in the Street
James Baldwin
Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin
Sonny's Blues
James Baldwin
Stranger in the Village
James Baldwin
The Amen Corner
James Baldwin
The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin
The Rockpile
James Baldwin
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books on U.S. History
View Collection
Colonialism & Postcolonialism
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Equality
View Collection
Essays & Speeches
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Memoir
View Collection
National Book Awards Winners & Finalists
View Collection
Nation & Nationalism
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
Pride Month Reads
View Collection