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The Formation of the Harlem Renaissance
Charles Spurgeon Johnson held a meeting at the New York Civic Club. The dinner brought together both Black and White writers, pundits and publishers. This event would become the dress rehearsal for what would later become infamously known as the Harlem Renaissance. -
Birth
James Baldwin was born at Harlem Hospital in New York City. His mother was Emma Berdis Jones and his biological father was an unknown drug user. -
The New Negro
Alain Locke publishes The New Negro, an anthology featuring African American writers and visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance -
Mother Marries Rev. David Baldwin
His mother married Baptist preacher, David Baldwin. James was three years-old. With Baldwin, Emma had eight children, the last of which was born on the day of her husband’s death in 1943. -
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The Great Depression
The worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasted from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. -
Wall Street Crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also called The Stock Market Crash, was a major stock market crash that occurred when the New York Stock Exchanged crashed. -
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Wall Street Crash
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also called The Stock Market Crash, was a major stock market crash that occurred when the New York Stock Exchanged crashed. -
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Elementary School
Baldwin attended P.S. 24 on 128th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Harlem, where he wrote the school song which was used until the school closed. -
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Central Harlem
Harlem was predominately Black by the end of 1930. Most of the population settled in the Northern area of Central Park -
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Dust Bowl
A natural disaster that caused the worst drought in North America in 1,000 years. It killed crops that kept soil in place. The Dust Bowl made the Great Depression even worse.
- 1932: 14 storms
- 1933: total of 14 dust storms -
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Middle School
James attended Frederick Douglass Junior High. During his time in Middle School, James was influenced by a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, the poet Countee Cullen, who was a teacher at the school. James was also encouraged by his math teacher to be the editor of the school newspaper. -
Harlem Race Riot of 1935
Harlem Race Riot of 1935; a riot that occurred in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem. It was precipitated by a teenager's theft of a pen knife from a store and was fueled by economic hardship, racial injustice, and community mistrust of the police. It is sometimes considered to be the first modern American race riot. -
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Harlem Race Riots of 1935
Harlem Race Riot of 1935; a riot that occurred in the Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem. It was precipitated by a teenager's theft of a pen knife from a store and was fueled by economic hardship, racial injustice, and community mistrust of the police. It is sometimes considered to be the first modern American race riot. -
Wrote First Article
James wrote his first article "Harlem—Then and Now," and published it in his school’s magazine The Douglass Pilot. He was thirteen years old. -
Ending of the Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance ended in the mid-30s with the repeal of the 18th amendment and the setting affects of the Great Depression -
Touched by God
At the age of 14 he attended meetings of the Pentecostal Church and, during a euphoric prayer meeting, he converted and became a junior minister. Before long, at the Fireside Pentecostal Assembly, he was drawing larger crowds than his stepfather had done in his day. At 17, however, Baldwin came to view Christianity as based on false premises and later regarded his time in the pulpit as a way of overcoming his personal crises. -
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High School
"Baldwin went on to De Witt Clinton High School, a distinguished—and racially integrated—public school in the Bronx. Among his classmates were the future writer Emile Capouya, the future editor Sol Stein, and the future photographer Richard Avedon, with whom Baldwin co-edited the school magazine, The Magpie" (Als). James disliked the school because of the constant racial slurs he experienced while attending. -
James meets Beauford Delaney
When Baldwin was 15 years old, his high-school running buddy, Emile Capouya, skipped school one day and, in Greenwich Village, met Beauford Delaney, a painter. Capouya gave Baldwin Delaney's address and suggested paying him a visit. Baldwin, who worked at the time after school in a sweatshop on nearby Canal Street, visited Delaney at 181 Greene Street. Delaney became a mentor to Baldwin and under his influence Baldwin came to believe a black person could be an artist. -
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World War II
The United States officially entered the war on December 8th in 1941. Many African Americans fought in the War, though the military was still segregated. -
Native Son by Richard Wright is published
Native Son is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s. James Baldwin derisively called it "everybody's protest novel." -
Graduated DeWitt
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Moves to New Jersey
After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1942, Baldwin supported himself for the next six years with a succession of menial jobs, including one at a defense factory in New Jersey. -
Reverend David Baldwin dies
James stepfather, Rev. David Baldwin dies of tuberculosis in the summer of 1943 on the day his last child was born, just before Baldwin turned 19. The day of the funeral was Baldwin's 19th birthday and the day of the Harlem riot of 1943, which was portrayed at the beginning of his essay "Notes of a Native Son." -
Harlem Riot of 1943
A race riot took place in Harlem, New York City, on August 1 and 2 of 1943, after a white police officer, James Collins, shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African-American soldier; and rumors circulated that the soldier had been killed. The riot was chiefly directed by black residents against white-owned property in Harlem. -
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Harlem riot of 1943
A race riot took place in Harlem, New York City, on August 1 and 2 of 1943, after a white police officer, James Collins, shot and wounded Robert Bandy, an African-American soldier; and rumors circulated that the soldier had been killed. The riot was chiefly directed by black residents against white-owned property in Harlem.
