ON BEING "WHITE" • AND OTHER LIES
James Baldwin (1924-1987) was the greatest expert on white conscious- ness in the twentieth century United States. Born in what he described as the "southern community" of Harlem, Baldwin published six novels, including his brilliant treatment of fathers,sons, and religion in Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), and Giovanni's Room (1956), a work concentrating on white, gay characters. Baldwin's early essays, collected in Notes of a Native Son (1955), Nobody Knows My Name (1961), and The Fire Next Time (1963), are works of remarkable range, lucidity, and compassion. But his scandalously under appreciated essays, generously sampled in The Price of the Ticket (1985), push Baldwin's arguments regarding race and the meaning of America, racism, homophobia, and the "male prison," and whiteness and the immigrant experience to unprecedented insight.
"On Being 'White' and Other Lies," published originally in the popular African-American magazine Essence in 1984, is a dramatic reminder that "becoming American" meant learning to be white in a new way for European immigrants.
Recovery from the Lie of Whiteness honors the legacy of James Baldwin and all he did to wake us up. Click here to read more on the meaning of Whiteness.
Click here to read James Baldwin’s original essay: On Being White and Other Lies