The Amen Corner

James Baldwin was a prolific Black author, whose vast body of literary work made great impacts on the civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights movements. He was born James Arthur Jones to a single mother, Emma Berdis Jones, in Harlem in 1924. In 1927, Emma married a preacher from Louisiana who had moved North, David Baldwin (from whom James took his last name). James and David had a complex relationship, and the two fought frequently. David saw James’s habits of reading books, seeing movies, and having white friends as potential threats to his faith. This is mirrored in the relationship between David and Margaret in The Amen Corner.

In high school, Baldwin struggled when he began to realize that he was attracted to men. He sought religion as an escape, joining the Mount Calvary of the Pentecostal Faith Church and then following a preacher to Fireside Pentecostal Assembly. The preacher, Bishop Rose Artemis Horn (nicknamed “Mother Horn”) loosely inspired the character of Margaret in The Amen Corner. At Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, James himself took to the pulpit and discovered his gifts for moving a crowd with his words. However, he came to realize that his reasons for joining the church were to hide from his true self. He eventually left to pursue his career as a writer and explore his sexuality.

He moved to Greenwich Village for several years as a young adult, where he met many influential writers and publishers. Afterward, James moved to Paris at the age of 24. He wanted to escape the racism that was so prevalent in America and to write outside of the context in which he was raised. He lived in Paris for nine years (1948-1957). He returned to America just as the civil rights movement was picking up. He was heavily involved, writing essays about the movement and even returning to the pulpit in Alabama after the 16th Street Bombing in Birmingham. There, he spoke to a crowded church, blaming Washington for not sending federal aid to help the Black population of Alabama and other southern states.

Despite being active in the civil rights movement, he followed Malcom X’s philosophy that citizens should not have to fight for their civil rights and thus rejected the label of “civil rights activist.” His influence on the movement, however, was felt through his actions and friendships with other prolific writers and artists of the time. These include musician Nina Simone, author Maya Angelou, poet Langston Hughes, and author Lorraine Hansberry.

Baldwin’s body of work spans six novels, a handful of short stories, and countless essays and poems. The Amen Corner was one of only two plays Baldwin wrote, the other one being Blues for Mister Charlie (1964). His works have been adapted for the screen, including an adaptation of his 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk, which was released in 2018, and his final unfinished manuscript, which was turned into the 2016 documentary I Am Not Your Negro. Baldwin died in 1987 in France after suffering from stomach cancer and was buried in New York City.