I remember that life in that room seemed to be occurring beneath the sea, time flowed past indifferently above us, hours and days had no meaning. In the beginning our life held a joy and amazement which was newborn every day. Beneath the joy, of course, was anguish and beneath the amazement was fear; but they did not work themselves to the beginning until our high beginning was aloes on our tongues. By then anguish and fear had become the surface on which we slipped and slid, losing balance, dignity, and pride.

The essay was originally publiJames Baldwind in two oversized issues of The New Yorker and landed Baldwin on the cover of Time magazine in 1963 while Baldwin was touring the South speaking about the restive Civil Rights movement. Baldwin also provided her with literary. He became for me an example of courage and integrity humility and passion.

Some Baldwin essays are book-length for instance The Fire Next Time (1963) No Name in the Street (1972) and The Devil Finds Work (1976). Baldwin's best-known novel is his first Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953).