Blues for Mister Charlie is James Baldwin's second play, a social commentary drama in three acts. It was first produced and published in 1964. The play is dedicated to the memory of Medgar Evers, his widow and children, and to the memory of the dead children of Birmingham." It is loosely based on the Emmett Till murder that occurred in Money, Mississippi, before the Civil Rights Movement began.
First edition cover
James Arthur Baldwin was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has been ranked among the best English-language novels. His 1955 essay collection Notes of a Native Son helped establish his reputation as a voice for human equality. Baldwin was a well-known public figure and orator, especially during the civil rights movement in the United States.
Baldwin in 1969
Baldwin in Los Angeles, California, 1964
James Baldwin, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1955
Café de Flore, boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris, May 2019 – Here in the large upstairs heated room (SALLE AU 1er – CLIMATISÉE) in 1952 Baldwin worked on his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953).
