[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.24,0:00:09.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Over the course of the 1960s,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.37,0:00:13.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the FBI amassed almost \Ntwo thousand documents
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.14,0:00:17.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in an investigation into one \Nof America’s most celebrated minds.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.25,0:00:21.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The subject of this inquiry \Nwas a writer named James Baldwin.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.32,0:00:22.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the time,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.49,0:00:25.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the FBI investigated many \Nartists and thinkers,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.43,0:00:29.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but most of their files were a \Nfraction the size of Baldwin’s.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.19,0:00:31.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,During the years when the FBI hounded him,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.54,0:00:35.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he became one of the best-selling\Nblack authors in the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.35,0:00:38.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So what made James Baldwin loom \Nso large in the imaginations
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.91,0:00:42.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of both the public and the authorities?
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.10,0:00:44.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Born in Harlem in 1924,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.02,0:00:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was the oldest of nine children.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.34,0:00:49.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At age fourteen,\Nhe began to work as a preacher.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.61,0:00:53.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By delivering sermons,\Nhe developed his voice as a writer,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.09,0:00:55.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but also grew conflicted about the Church’s stance
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.46,0:00:59.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on racial inequality and homosexuality.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.01,0:00:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After high school,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.97,0:01:04.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he began writing novels and essays\Nwhile taking a series of odd jobs.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.24,0:01:06.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the issues that had driven him \Naway from the Church
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.60,0:01:09.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were still inescapable in his daily life.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.86,0:01:12.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Constantly confronted with racism \Nand homophobia,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.67,0:01:16.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he was angry and disillusioned, \Nand yearned for a less restricted life.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.73,0:01:20.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So in 1948, \Nat the age of 24,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:20.08,0:01:23.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he moved to Paris on a writing fellowship.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.04,0:01:25.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,From France, he published his first novel,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:25.57,0:01:28.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Go Tell it on the Mountain," in 1953.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.81,0:01:29.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Set in Harlem,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.79,0:01:34.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the book explores the Church \Nas a source of both repression and hope.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.47,0:01:37.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was popular with both black \Nand white readers.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:37.32,0:01:39.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As he earned acclaim for his fiction,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.24,0:01:43.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Baldwin gathered his thoughts on race, \Nclass, culture and exile
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.79,0:01:48.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in his 1955 extended essay, \N"Notes of a Native Son."
Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.49,0:01:49.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meanwhile,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.58,0:01:52.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Civil Rights movement \Nwas gaining momentum in America.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.42,0:01:56.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Black Americans were making incremental \Ngains at registering to vote and voting,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.93,0:02:01.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but were still denied basic dignities in \Nschools, on buses, in the work force,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:01.74,0:02:03.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in the armed services.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.83,0:02:06.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though he lived primarily in France \Nfor the rest of his life,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:06.75,0:02:09.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Baldwin was deeply invested in \Nthe movement,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.13,0:02:12.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and keenly aware of his \Ncountry’s unfulfilled promise.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.15,0:02:15.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had seen family, friends, \Nand neighbors
Dialogue: 0,0:02:15.08,0:02:18.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spiral into addiction, incarceration\Nand suicide.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.71,0:02:21.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He believed their fates originated \Nfrom the constraints
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.41,0:02:23.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of a segregated society.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.78,0:02:25.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 1963,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.08,0:02:27.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he published "The Fire Next Time,"
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.67,0:02:29.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an arresting portrait of racial strife\N
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.88,0:02:32.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in which he held white America \Naccountable,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:32.27,0:02:33.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but he also went further,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.75,0:02:36.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,arguing that racism hurt white people too.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.73,0:02:37.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In his view,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.82,0:02:42.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone was inextricably enmeshed \Nin the same social fabric.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.05,0:02:43.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He had long believed that:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.51,0:02:47.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“People are trapped in history \Nand history is trapped in them.”
Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.45,0:02:49.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Baldwin’s role in the Civil Rights \Nmovement
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.32,0:02:51.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,went beyond observing and reporting.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.35,0:02:53.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He also traveled through the \NAmerican South
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.64,0:02:56.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attending rallies giving lectures \Nof his own.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.61,0:02:59.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,He debated both white politicians \Nand black activists,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.44,0:03:01.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including Malcolm X,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.01,0:03:04.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and served as a liaison between black \Nactivists and intellectuals
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.71,0:03:07.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and white establishment leaders \Nlike Robert Kennedy.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.57,0:03:09.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because of Baldwin’s unique ability
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.28,0:03:11.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to articulate the causes \Nof social turbulence
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.75,0:03:14.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a way that white audiences \Nwere willing to hear,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.63,0:03:18.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kennedy and others tended to see \Nhim as an ambassador for black Americans
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.74,0:03:20.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,— a label Baldwin rejected.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.91,0:03:22.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And at the same time,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:22.14,0:03:25.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his faculty with words led the \NFBI to view him as a threat.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.85,0:03:27.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even within the Civil Rights movement,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.61,0:03:29.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Baldwin could sometimes feel \Nlike an outsider
Dialogue: 0,0:03:29.98,0:03:33.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for his choice to live abroad,\Nas well as his sexuality,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:33.04,0:03:35.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which he explored openly \Nin his writing
Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.13,0:03:37.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at a time when homophobia ran rampant.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.90,0:03:39.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Throughout his life,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.11,0:03:42.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Baldwin considered it his role\Nto bear witness.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.01,0:03:43.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unlike many of his peers,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.57,0:03:46.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he lived to see some of the\Nvictories of the Civil Rights movement,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:46.85,0:03:51.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the continuing racial inequalities in \Nthe United States weighed heavily on him.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.33,0:03:53.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Though he may have felt trapped \Nin his moment in history,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:53.98,0:03:56.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his words have made generations \Nof people feel known,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.78,0:03:59.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while guiding them toward a more \Nnuanced understanding
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.48,0:04:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of society’s most complex issues.