No Name in the Street
by James Baldwin
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This stunningly personal document and extraordinary history of the turbulent sixties and early seventies displays James Baldwin's fury and despair more deeply than any of his other works. In vivid detail he remembers the Harlem childhood that shaped his early consciousness, the later events that scored his heart with pain--the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, his sojourns in Europe and in Hollywood, and his return to the American South to confront a violent America face-to-face.Tags
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Member Reviews
Coming off a reread of The Fire Next Time, which is clear and impactful, this book felt very loose—a bit tentative, uncommitted even. It reads much more like a memoir, and not a particularly coherent one. Don’t get me wrong: This is James Baldwin, and even his incoherent ramblings are worth a read. But I think there’s a good reason this isn’t one of his best known books.
51. [462760::No Name in the Street] by [[James Baldwin]]
published: 1972
format: 123 pages inside [323902::Collected essays]
acquired: December 2018
read: Oct 15-18
time reading: 5 hr 39 min, 2.8 min/page
rating: 5
While not Baldwin‘s best essay collection (see [The Fire Next Time]), this is a favorite for me. It‘s melancholy, an end of an era book. Baldwin writes about the assassinated (Medgar Evers, MLK, Malcom X and others), the incarcerated (Huey Newton, etc), and about his failed attempt to make a movie on Malcolm X (his script was the basis of the 1990‘s movie). By 1971 the beaded hippie era has faded, and their failure reflects in other American failures.
To some extend Baldwin is continuing his usual themes—attacks on the the show more lunacy of American conservatives, the American south, the inauthenticity of American liberals (his main readers?). Add Hollywood. But he had met, spoken with, debated with all these lost heroes of the Civil Right era and sees it all as a failure and as both a national and personal loss. America is still sick and in denial. Trump would not surprise him. It‘s a slow, single essay mulling on this, with an intense and powerful conclusion that still very relevant. Glad to have read it.
2019
https://www.librarything.com/topic/312033#6947096 show less
published: 1972
format: 123 pages inside [323902::Collected essays]
acquired: December 2018
read: Oct 15-18
time reading: 5 hr 39 min, 2.8 min/page
rating: 5
While not Baldwin‘s best essay collection (see [The Fire Next Time]), this is a favorite for me. It‘s melancholy, an end of an era book. Baldwin writes about the assassinated (Medgar Evers, MLK, Malcom X and others), the incarcerated (Huey Newton, etc), and about his failed attempt to make a movie on Malcolm X (his script was the basis of the 1990‘s movie). By 1971 the beaded hippie era has faded, and their failure reflects in other American failures.
To some extend Baldwin is continuing his usual themes—attacks on the the show more lunacy of American conservatives, the American south, the inauthenticity of American liberals (his main readers?). Add Hollywood. But he had met, spoken with, debated with all these lost heroes of the Civil Right era and sees it all as a failure and as both a national and personal loss. America is still sick and in denial. Trump would not surprise him. It‘s a slow, single essay mulling on this, with an intense and powerful conclusion that still very relevant. Glad to have read it.
2019
https://www.librarything.com/topic/312033#6947096 show less
This is one of Baldwin’s non-fiction works. It is the first of Baldwin’s books I have read.
In most books, it may be hard to know which of the characters are white and which are black. We are generally not told this. We assume that most are white, or at least I do.
But Baldwin is mostly occupied with black people, and always tells us who are black and who are white, if any.
He is concerned about black people, whom he feels are not really regarded as people, at least in America.
He writes about black Americans, like himself.
At the beginning of the book Baldwin writes about his childhood. He was terrified of “the man we called my father”.
He did not understand him until he was “past understanding”.
His father’s mother, show more Barbara, lived with them; she was born in slavery. She was so old that she never moved from her bed. She loved James and used to scold her son for the way he treated him.
He knew that she would always protect him with all her strength.
James’ mother was always in the hospital, having another baby.
All the children were “absolutely and mercilessly united against our father”.
His father was a preacher and had “unreciprocated love for the Great God Almighty”.
I don’t understand that James wrote “unreciprocated”, indicating that God did not love his father. Perhaps no-one else loved him but God surely did. After all, God is Love.
He tells us that his father went mad and ended in the “madhouse”.
Baldwin discusses Martin Luther King and his death and also mentions Malcolm X.
It is important to point out that the copyright for this book was in 1972, i.e. it was written many years ago.
Baldwin went to Paris in 1948; since he had no money he lived among “les misérables”, and in Paris these are or were the Algerians.
When in Paris a second time. B found that all the Algerians he had known had disappeared. He heard that they had been placed in camps and were being tortured and murdered there.
They were also being murdered in the streets or dropped into the Seine.
Police were on every street corner, sometimes with machine guns. Anyone in Paris suspected of being Algerian, for example, Turks, Greeks, Spaniards, American blacks and Frenchmen from Marseilles or Nice were under constant harassment.
He hadn’t purposely gone to Paris but merely went there to get away from America.
In Paris he was completely alone. He lived there for a long time without making a single French friend. This total indifference came as a great relief and even as a mark of respect.
Baldwin’s “green”, presumably American, passport proclaimed that he was “a free citizen of a free country” and was not therefore to be treated as “one of Europe’s uncivilized black possessions”.
This same passport in the USA proclaimed that he was a “domestic n-----”.
Baldwin returned home in 1957 and eventually went South.
When he went South, he felt as though he had wandered into hell. What struck him was “the unbelievable dimension” of the people’s sorrow.
He says: “I have more faith in Southerners than I would ever have in Northerners.” “It is in the South and not in the North that the rebirth will begin.”
Baldwin writes absolutely what he means/feels. He tells us that “white Americans are probably the sickest and certainly the most dangerous people of any color, to be found in the world today”.
I found Baldwin to be vastly intelligent and intellectual but also wonderful at expressing his emotions in detail.
I have never previously experienced such a great writer as Baldwin, with such wonderful powers of expression.
This is a stimulating book. Not being American and not having visited the U.S., I cannot say how much of what Baldwin writes is relevant today, though I would think it all is in one way or another.
I highly recommend the book, which made a strong impression on me. show less
In most books, it may be hard to know which of the characters are white and which are black. We are generally not told this. We assume that most are white, or at least I do.
But Baldwin is mostly occupied with black people, and always tells us who are black and who are white, if any.
He is concerned about black people, whom he feels are not really regarded as people, at least in America.
He writes about black Americans, like himself.
At the beginning of the book Baldwin writes about his childhood. He was terrified of “the man we called my father”.
He did not understand him until he was “past understanding”.
His father’s mother, show more Barbara, lived with them; she was born in slavery. She was so old that she never moved from her bed. She loved James and used to scold her son for the way he treated him.
He knew that she would always protect him with all her strength.
James’ mother was always in the hospital, having another baby.
All the children were “absolutely and mercilessly united against our father”.
His father was a preacher and had “unreciprocated love for the Great God Almighty”.
I don’t understand that James wrote “unreciprocated”, indicating that God did not love his father. Perhaps no-one else loved him but God surely did. After all, God is Love.
He tells us that his father went mad and ended in the “madhouse”.
Baldwin discusses Martin Luther King and his death and also mentions Malcolm X.
It is important to point out that the copyright for this book was in 1972, i.e. it was written many years ago.
Baldwin went to Paris in 1948; since he had no money he lived among “les misérables”, and in Paris these are or were the Algerians.
When in Paris a second time. B found that all the Algerians he had known had disappeared. He heard that they had been placed in camps and were being tortured and murdered there.
They were also being murdered in the streets or dropped into the Seine.
Police were on every street corner, sometimes with machine guns. Anyone in Paris suspected of being Algerian, for example, Turks, Greeks, Spaniards, American blacks and Frenchmen from Marseilles or Nice were under constant harassment.
He hadn’t purposely gone to Paris but merely went there to get away from America.
In Paris he was completely alone. He lived there for a long time without making a single French friend. This total indifference came as a great relief and even as a mark of respect.
Baldwin’s “green”, presumably American, passport proclaimed that he was “a free citizen of a free country” and was not therefore to be treated as “one of Europe’s uncivilized black possessions”.
This same passport in the USA proclaimed that he was a “domestic n-----”.
Baldwin returned home in 1957 and eventually went South.
When he went South, he felt as though he had wandered into hell. What struck him was “the unbelievable dimension” of the people’s sorrow.
He says: “I have more faith in Southerners than I would ever have in Northerners.” “It is in the South and not in the North that the rebirth will begin.”
Baldwin writes absolutely what he means/feels. He tells us that “white Americans are probably the sickest and certainly the most dangerous people of any color, to be found in the world today”.
I found Baldwin to be vastly intelligent and intellectual but also wonderful at expressing his emotions in detail.
I have never previously experienced such a great writer as Baldwin, with such wonderful powers of expression.
This is a stimulating book. Not being American and not having visited the U.S., I cannot say how much of what Baldwin writes is relevant today, though I would think it all is in one way or another.
I highly recommend the book, which made a strong impression on me. show less
I sympathize with the African American's experience, but it's hard to relate or to know what to do about it. Racism is alive and well in the U.S.
This was very good but I need to reread it. It got mixed up in my mind with The Devil Finds Work.
My first experience of James Baldwin, and now I want to track down everything he wrote. Very powerful stuff and beautifully written.
Feb 10, 2026English (UK)
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What is important about Baldwin's essays is the style and eloquence with which he evokes the torment and human devastation of American racism and his ability to make us feel, if only momentarily, that redemption is possible.
In "No Name in the Street," Baldwin's prose is often mesmerizing and, though they seem less shocking and disturbing now, there are passages that are as candid, insightful show more and moving as any in his previous essays. show less
In "No Name in the Street," Baldwin's prose is often mesmerizing and, though they seem less shocking and disturbing now, there are passages that are as candid, insightful show more and moving as any in his previous essays. show less
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Author Information
120+ Works 41,816 Members
James Baldwin was born on August 2, 1924, in New York. Baldwin's father was a pastor who subjected his children to poverty, abuse, and religious fanaticism. As a result, many of Baldwin's recurring themes, such as alienation and rejection, are attributable to his upbringing. Living the life of a starving artist, Baldwin went through numerous jobs, show more including dishwasher, office boy, factory worker, and waiter. In 1948, he moved to France, where much work originated. Baldwin published Go Tell It on the Mountain in 1953. A largely autobiographical work, it tells of the religious awakening of a fourteen-year-old. In addition to his childhood experiences, his experiences as a black man and a homosexual provided inspiration for such works as Giovanni's Room, Nobody Knows My Name, and Another Country. Baldwin holds a distinguished place in American history as one of the foremost writers of both black and gay literature. He was an active participant in the Civil Rights movement. Baldwin succumbed to cancer on December 1, 1987. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1972
- Epigraph
- His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street: he shall be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the world.
JOB 18: 17 - 18 - Dedication
- For Berdis Baldwin
and
Beauford DeLaney
and
Rudy Lombard
and Jerome - First words
- "That is a good idea," I heard my mother say.
- Quotations
- Yet, hope—the hope that we, human beings, can be better than we are—dies hard; perhaps one can no longer live if one allows that hope to die. But it is also hard to see what one sees. One sees that most human beings are w... (show all)retched, and, in one way or another, become wicked; because they are so wretched. And one's turning away, then, from what I have called the welcome table is dictated by some mysterious vow one scarcely knows one's taken—never to allow oneself to fall so low. Lower, perhaps, much lower, to the very dregs; but never there.
It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. - Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 305.896 — Society, Government, and Culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social group - Age, Gender, Ethnicity Ethnic and national groups Other ethnic and national groups Africans and people of African descent; Blacks of African origin
- LCC
- E185.615 .B28 — History of the United States United States
- BISAC
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- 5 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian
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- 19
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- 11
