Students paid tribute to James Baldwin’s legacy with poetry and dramatic performances Saturday at the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda.
Last month, the writer and civil rights activist would have turned 100 years old.
To mark the centennial, Strathmore launched a series of events in honor of Baldwin. It started with a screening Aug. 2 — Baldwin’s birthday — and will end Oct. 5 with a concert by Grammy-winning artist Meshell Ndegeocello.
“This is really what we need, is to engage with Baldwin’s material,” said Pablo de Oliveira, education and community engagement manager at Strathmore. “It is still just as relevant, maybe even more relevant, today. And to see the youth working with it and being creative and expressing themselves, I think that’s what Strathmore is really about.”
Youth poets from the youth arts organization DIALECT of Prince George’s (P.G.) County read original poetry inspired by Baldwin’s works, led by DIALECT Executive Director Patrick Washington.
“I truly believe that he was a scientist of the heart,” Washington said. “He looked at things that happened in popular culture, in world events, and then he began to dissect not just how it happened but the hearts behind the people who were involved in these things on both sides.”
“My poem is about feelings of love and hate,” said Precious Foreman, a Charles County high school student. “I watched the movie ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ and that movie was just so powerful to me.”
“James Baldwin’s words were very evergreen because, it still happens now. People still face challenges that people during this time faced,” said Chimwekele Okoro, a student at Prince George’s Community College. “If we shove that under the rug it is only going to be detrimental to all of us.”
Students from Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts performed scenes from Baldwin’s play “The Amen Corner,” led by Dr. Khalid Long, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and Interim Associate Dean of Research and Creative Endeavors at Howard University.
“James Baldwin has written a play ‘The Amen Corner’ that offers a very particular and unique look at African Americans, particularly African American religiosity, spirituality, and the challenges, intentions within African American communities surrounding religion and religious practices,” Long said. “And so it allows us to just demonstrate and illustrate the wide experiences of African Americans.”
“Today we’re just giving life to what James Baldwin is speaking to us, and taking the messages that he’s given and putting it back in our lives,” said Howard University student Kendrick Jackson. “And we’re celebrating his 100th birthday, and we actually share the same birthday, so it feels like a full-circle moment.”
