James Baldwin
Lesson plans and other teaching resources

| Biography and Background | | Writing |

Biography and Background

James Baldwin
Biography at Wikipedia.

25 Powerful Quotes From James Baldwin To Feed Your Soul
Quotations in poster form from a variety of Baldwin texts.

American Masters - James Baldwin
Biography.

A Guide to Harlem Renaissance Materials
The Library of Congress presents a variety of materials on James Baldwin and other Harlem Renaissance artists.

Writing

The Expanding Canon: James Baldwin
Snyopses of The Fire Next Time , "Sonny's Blues," and "The Rockpile." In this lesson students work in small groups to research James Baldwin on the Internet, choose a focus related to one of the three works, and create a Web site about Baldwin.

The Fire Next Time Learn It Guide. Adobe Reader required for these resources.

• Introductory Material
  Author biography, background information, character list, vocabulary words.
• Section One Worksheet
  Students evaluate inferences and map words.
• Section Two Worksheet
  Students challenge generalizations and work with vocabulary.
• Section Three Worksheet
  Students identify and evaluate solutions to the problem of racism, and examine synonyms and connotations.
• Persuasion Graphic Organizer
  Students analyze persuasive techniques that Baldwin uses. Includes writing task.
• Style Graphic Organizer
  Students list examples of 7 types of writing style, then elaborate on one of them.
• Theme Graphic Organizer
  Given a theme, students identify ways Baldwin supports it.
• Whole-Novel Discussion and Activities
  5 discussion questions and 6 post-reading activities.
• Multiple Choice Test
  10 questions.

Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
This site offers a summary, theme openers, crosscurricular activities, research assignments, and suggestions for related reading.

Go Tell it on the Mountain : Context
Biographical information from SparkNotes.