If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk

• Genre: Fiction; literary fiction
• Originally Published: 1974
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: 2 parts; approx. 197 pages; approx. 7 hours, 7 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Nineteen-year-old Tish falls in love with childhood friend Fonny, and they make plans to marry. But when Fonny is falsely accused of a crime and imprisoned, they experience a range of emotions as their families race to clear his name.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Racism; false imprisonment; police bias; sexually explicit scenes; sexist remarks and portrayals

James Baldwin, Author

• Bio: August 2, 1924-December 1, 1987; noted Black essayist, novelist, playwright, and poet; writing regularly explores masculinity, sexuality, race, and class that intersect with the civil rights movement and gay liberation movement; never knew his biological father; had a difficult relationship with his stepfather; became a preacher at Fireside Pentecostal Assembly after discovering he was attracted to men; spent years in menial jobs trying to support his family; moved to Paris in 1948 to escape American prejudice against Black people; wrote and published his first novel in Paris; returned to New York in 1957 to participate in the civil rights movement; lived in France for most of his later life; died from stomach cancer in 1987; awarded fellowships, body-of-work awards, and honorary degrees throughout his career
• Other Works: Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953); Giovanni’s Room (1956); Another Country (1962); Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968); Just Above My Head (1979)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Black Arts Movement
• African American Music as a Representation of African American Culture and Identity
• Racism, Class, and the Carceral State
• The Nature of Black Love

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the historical and social contexts regarding important African American social movements and their impact on artistic legacies, such as The Black Arts Movement.
• Analyze paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Racism, Class, and the Carceral State and The Nature of Black Love.
• Research and present a paper that demonstrates an understanding of the effect of structural barriers on ethnic and racial communities in the United States.