James Baldwin, Blues for Mr Charlie

Magdalena J. Zaborowska (University of Michigan)

Ed. by Emory Elliott, University of California, Riverside
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.5: African American Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Philathia Bolton (University of Akron), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), A Yemisi Jimoh (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1965

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

Several years before Baldwin completed his second play, Blues for Mister Charlie (1964), the Greek American theatre director Elia Kazan, his close friend, had suggested that he write about the murder of Emmett Till. Till was a young black man from Chicago brutally killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. The infamous acquittal by an all-white, all-male jury of the white men guilty of the crime caused a national uproar. The gloating killers subsequently sold the details of the murder to a journalist.

The plot of Blues for Mister Charlie was also inspired by another murder case in backcountry Mississippi: a case that involved a typical southern triangle of racism, lust, and …

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1908 words

Citation: Zaborowska, Magdalena J.. "Blues for Mr Charlie". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 October 2006 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6258, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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