American Masters

I first met James Baldwin in Paris in the early '50s. I was with Porgy and Bess, and I met him - he was small and hot dancing himself. I mean his movements were always the movements of a dancer. So when I met Jimmy well, we liked each other. I remember the respect that they gave one another - the excitement they both are expressing themselves and both brilliant people in a room. After a couple of drinks saying what they really feel. I'm a kind of poet, and I come out of a certain place, a certain time, a certain history. You know? Right. James Baldwin was merely my mother's friend Jimmy. I had no idea the majesty of his work at the time. What I recall is my mother coming home after conversations with him and talking about what she was going to do as a result of having met with him. What Jimmy was, was angry. He was angry at injustice, at ignorance, at exploitation, at stupidity, at vulgarity. Yes, he was angry.