One Book, One Chicago Spring 2007
Introduction
The novel Go Tell It on the Mountain has established itself as an American classic. With lyrical precision, psychological directness, resonating symbolic power, and a rage that is at once unrelenting and compassionate, James Baldwin chronicles a 14-year-old boy’s discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935.
About James Baldwin
Did you know James was a junior minister? How did his move to Paris affect his writing? What about his sexuality? Learn more about his life.
The Great Migration
Beginning in the late 18th century, black Americans began the transformation from a largely rural, Southern culture to a highly urbanized population. Learn more about this movement.