2024 marks the centennial of the birth of James Baldwin, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, civil-rights campaigner and social critic, as well as self-proclaimed American “Native Son”. Born in 1924 in Harlem, New York, Baldwin grew up in poverty, the eldest of nine children. Harlem was home to many black families who had moved from the … Continue reading “James Baldwin Centenary”
We always love to read students’ work. Here are some poems pupils wrote as their final task in a sequence from Shine Bright 2e: File 1 United Colours of Harlem. In this sequence, in Axe 3 Le village, le quartier, la ville, students discovered Harlem and considered what makes it such an inspiring neighbourhood. As … Continue reading “Your Students Have Talent: United Colours of Harlem”
The 2019 film adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel If Beale Street Could Talk, a love story set in 1970s Harlem, makes an excellent complement to Shine Bright 2de File 1 “United Colors of Harlem” or Shine Bright 1re File 8 “African-American Art” . This video can be used in class to introduce the film and Baldwin. … Continue reading “James Baldwin: Love in Harlem”