It is dangerous to be an American Negro male. America has never wanted its Negroes to be men, and does not, generally, treat them as men. It treats them as mascots, pets, or things.
James A. BaldwinRead
History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.
Interpretation
What this quote means
History focuses more on the experiences and actions of ordinary people rather than just famous individuals.
James A. Baldwin emphasizes that history should not be viewed as the achievements of a few notable figures, but rather as the collective experiences of the masses. This perspective highlights the importance of everyday people in shaping events and societal changes, thus reminding us that history is deeply rooted in the actions and struggles of the countless individuals who live it.
Themes
HistoryPeopleCollectiveExperiencesSociety
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on social movements, I might quote Baldwin to illustrate the importance of grassroots activism.
More from James A. Baldwin
All quotes βThe white man discovered the Cross by way of the Bible, but the black man discovered the Bible by way of the Cross.
James A. BaldwinRead
Those kids aren't dumb. But the people who run these schools want to make sure they don't get smart: they are really teaching the kids to be slaves.
James A. BaldwinRead
Experience, which destroys innocence, also leads one back to it.
James A. BaldwinRead
The reason people think it's important to be white is that they think it's important not to be black.
James A. BaldwinRead
The trick is to love somebody.... If you love one person, you see everybody else differently.
James A. BaldwinRead
Similar quotes
Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.
Oscar HandlinRead
Stalin's machine can be started up again at only a moment's notice: the same informers, the same denunciations, the same tortures. The same universal, all-devouring terror.
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Arab civilizations had been of an abstract nature, moral and intellectual rather than applied; and their lack of public spirit made their excellent private qualities futile. They were fortunate in their epoch: Europe had fallen barbarous; and the memory of Greek and Latin learning was fading from men's minds.
T. E. LawrenceRead
The white men told lies for each other. They drove off a great many of our cattle. Some branded our young cattle so they could claim them.
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One thing 'not right' on the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches is the sad fact that the Edmund Pettus Bridge hasn't been renamed the John Lewis Bridge.
Douglas BrinkleyRead
I grew up in the middle of a block where there was an Irish grocery store on one corner, an Italian bar on another corner and the Nazi Party was on the third corner.
Andrew YoungRead