James Arthur Baldwin is one of the greatest of
the American writers. His first novel made him world famous. ‘Go Tell it on the
Mountain’, the international best seller
is the story of hidden sins, guilt and religious torments. Baldwin, the
illegitimate son of a black domestic worker was born in the slum of Harlem, New York city. He never
knows who is his father, and like any black boy in America, he too suffered
untold humiliations and miseries which helped him to write powerful
autobiographical novels and essays. This essay ‘My Dungeon Shook’ written
in the
form of a letter is taken from
his famous book ‘Fire Next Time’. Baldwin uses words, as the sea uses waves.
This essay was written by him on the 100th anniversary of the
Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln, the then President of the USA abolishing slavery in on January 1st
1863. This essay was written in the year 1963.
James Baldwin tells his nephew that white
Americans are ‘innocent’. They think that they are always superior to the black
Americans because these black Americans were brought to America and Europe in
ships from Africa and had been working
as slaves in the cotton, rubber and tea
estates. They worked hard day and nights and were sold like animals in the
slave markets.
James Baldwin tells his nephew that his
grandfather blindly believed whatever the white Americans told him. The white
Americans told the grandfather that he
was a ‘nigger’ which meant ‘the dirtiest animal in the world and the poor
grandfather believed it and worked like slave day and night for the white
masters. The grandfather and other slaves made roads, built buildings, canals,
bridges and rail roads. In short these poor slaves made great cities all over America. These slaves
had terrible life and they were defeated long before they died.
But the new generation of the blacks did not believe the white Americans. They learned
that these white Americans are ‘innocent’ people. They don’t know what
they are
doing. They committed a crime.
They put the black people in the ghettos. The foolish Americans thought that
the black people would perish. But the blacks did not die. They loved each
other like brothers and sisters, parents and children, uncles and nephews and
nieces. When a black woman gave birth to an illegitimate child, other black
people were not angry with the woman,
but loved her and her child and looked after the child with great care. Most of
the children were born in prisons because thousands of black men and women were
arrested and imprisoned by the white police. Thus, the black people loved each
other and strengthened their community and finally they defeated the plans of
the white Americans.
In the year 1863, Abraham Lincoln the great
President of America abolished slavery through Emancipation Proclamation. It
was a shock to many white Americans. They thought they are in danger. They lost
their identity. The identity of the slave owner. Now there is no difference
between the slave owner and the slave. All the black Americans got freedom from
slavery. Blacks are equal to white Americans.
James Baldwin refers to two words ‘Acceptance’
and ‘Integration’. Some white people want to continue the slavery. So they tell
the black people to accept white Americans as the masters or superiors to the
black people. But James Baldwin and
other black people oppose this idea of the whites. James Baldwin tells the
white Americans that the blacks will accept the whites only as the brothers and
sisters of the black. Both the whites and the blacks should live together as
brothers and sisters with love. This acceptance and integration. Kjt/18-03-2019
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