Eddie Glaude Invokes James Baldwin, Asks America To 'Begin Again'

(This program originally aired August 4, 2020)When the novelist, journalist, playwright and activist James Baldwin died in 1987, his place in the panoply of great American writers was assured. He is remembered as one of the most eloquent observers of the Black experience, and an insightful and compelling critic of racial inequality. He was prolific and provocative, and one of the most important and invigorating public intellectuals of his time. Dr. Eddie Glaude is one of the most important and invigorating public intellectuals of our time. He is the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, and a former president of the American Academy of Religion. In addition to many scholarly books and articles, he enjoys a wide audience as a contributor to MSNBC, and for his essays in publications such as the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Huffington Post.Eddie Glaude’s latest book draws on his imaginative reading of James Baldwin and his own trenchant observations about the current American moment, as a racist, demagogic president stands for re-election, and while protesters in cities across the nation cry out for the kind of equality Baldwin so eloquently demanded. The book is called Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own. Eddie Glaude joined us via Zoom…Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.