History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about.
James A. BaldwinFreaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated – in the main, abominably – because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.
James A. BaldwinEverything depends on how relentlessly one forces from experience the last drop, sweet or bitter, it can possibly give.
James A. BaldwinThe greatest significance of the present student generation is that it is through them that the point of view of the subjugated is finally and inexorably being expressed.
James A. BaldwinThe miracle is that some have stepped out of the rags of the Republic's definition to assume the great burden and glory of their humanity and their responsibility for one another. It is an extraordinary achievement to be trapped in the dungeon of color and to dare to shake down its walls and to step out of it leaving the jailkeeper in the rubble.
James A. Baldwin