James Baldwin: The Moral Responsibility of the Artist

This is a speech given by Mr. James Baldwin at the University of Chicago on May 21, 1963. The Speech is entitled The Moral Responsibility of the Artist.
Check out this playlist of other Baldwin videos: • James Baldwin
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[@blackphillip63]

His swag in this photo.

[@h8xeus247]

he is vibin' too

[@dannygeorge1928]

Looking dapper

[@elijahplummer3655]

Harlem man whatchu expect

[@victormorgado5318]

French cool

[@martellusbennett8840]

the glasses tho

[@ronrendon]

I love me some James Baldwin. It usually takes me 2 or 3 listens however to get most of what he says. But it’s always worth it. He gives me hope & inspires me to WRITE. ❤️

[@a.b.7826]

Ditto.

[@l.w.paradis2108]

Yes! No one more uplifting.

[@l.w.paradis2108]

Happy 2024! How has it been going?

[@ItCantRainAllTheTime_90]

☝🏿He said an artist is someone who helps you see reality again 👌🏿

[@noellegaumann9889]

He must have been and will forever be, one of the greatest, most eloquent and most visionary men to have ever walked upon this earth. His oxford debate is essential!

[@nimcom.5396]

I love him!

[@susanrockwell139]

His writing transformed me.

[@stegemme]

William F Buckley was nauseously arrogant. He was the same with Noam Chomskey.

[@OmegaLiar]

As it turns out truth is timeless. And he’s one of the few who understands AND can convey fundamental truth. This man changed my life.

[@fords_nothere_100]

I believe you mean the Cambridge Union debate? If I'm correct then couldn't agree more. There's a couple of versions here that are truly worth exploring.

[@thefamilypodcast9556]

The way in which James Baldwin put words together was just masterful, everything from his word selection to his tempo, like a painter!

[@ibnorator8149]

Greetings Beautiful soul! (forgive me abit i know I am not exactly what you may have come here for ..) but my name is Ibn Orator...I am an Avant-Garde, introspective & Political Hip Hop Artist from New Haven CT. I've recently released a project titled "The Fishbowl Syndrome" that is centered around the topic of our mental health and art; how they intertwine in experience or how they are sometimes viewed juxtapose, and ostracized as one here in America;to which my first debut music video "The Horse on a Trampoline", works showcase on the spectrum of my own experiences with it-- that i feel fans alike of FKA twigs, Doja Cat,Tyler the Creator,, Flying lotus, Childish Gambino or those of Bjork, Kid Cudi , Lupe Fiasco, & Reggie watts may resonate with...id like to share this with you by giving a warm welcome to my Channel to not only, like and subscribe but to comment with genuine thoughts . (Please leave a comment there underneath the video and not here) as i would like for my listeners to feel welcomed to give more in thought towards those uncomfortable conversations than in clout, which is what my subject matter is based on ..."Commentary on our shared world".In hopes that this may be fruitful to you i look forward to your response The Horse on a Trampoline Official Music Video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaDPZHepjM2tpqM All the best Ibn Orator P.S. Im aware that for some us, if not all, had a hard time in 2020, which will have it’s residual effects despite it’s end, ..so id like to say that i love you very much, if you haven't heard it from anyone, and that things are about to change as they always do, for better or worse.#Godspeed.

[@calhoundre]

Preacher dad.

[@ragantate3995]

He began a preacher’s son who became a preacher himself. That and life experiences is what made him, him.

[@jenniferlee5871]

Oh yes I agree. I’m a painter and I strive to create a composition that is balanced, has movement and tension and is graceful and intelligent and resists untruth. When I listen to Baldwin I see and feel all this and more. He is an artist and he is art.

[@user-cr7ij9qf6q]

Mr Baldwin was Cool, Suave, and Debonaire. I enjoyed his “Artist Responsibly” video very much. James Baldwin was a Literary Genius. His Lecture was Wonderful and he Addressed the Topic Perfectly. ❤️❤️❤️👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@westsidedaily1062]

Dude is drippin', str8 up intellectual powerhouse, with next-level style for days. Loveeeeeeee James Baldwin 🙏🏽❤️👍🏽

[@kellyfreedman2484]

He is so eloquent. A great philosopher and writer and teacher of the human condition !

[@jeremiahsikhosana3751]

Wow, I cannot describe his genius and understanding of humanity, wish I had read this 30 years ago

[@theworkethic]

The “human condition.” Exactly

[@michaelcampbell5817]

This Brother is freedom fighter, without throwing a punch and an attorney, without arguing a case in court room. Brother Baldwin argued Black people history in America plight and America's hypocrisy historically undisputed record of America treating its black people here in America, on a global stage and the best to do it.

[@lonnettemartin4354]

He most CERTAINLY did......

[@MrJamesdryable]

"Now if you can't here me, you've gotta let me know......"

[@PLTexas1]

We do have a Morale Responsibility to be better than who we are.

[@MrDawnRise]

Paul Lawson and in Jordan B. Peterson's words, which I think reflect that of Baldwin's is: "What else you got to do anyway?"

[@Gold753]

Stop tying in to that right-wing pandering J.Peterson to a genius like Baldwin. That is plain malice.

[@MrDawnRise]

Don't Look At Me Like That hahaha you're definitely a loser

[@wind3]

@@MrDawnRise the guy who quoted Jordan Peterson is calling someone else a loser, how ironic.

[@MrDawnRise]

Another guy triggered by a quote as banal as "What else you got to do anyway?" Clean your room loser.

[@vonthevisualgod5969]

coolest man in the world . I aspire to be more like him

[@songsalon7868]

HIM & PRINCE... COOOOOOOL..

[@j.m.harris210]

...There's no mystery... when you stop denying it maybe we can all grow up." ---Baldwin #InMemoriam

[@tyronebunyon7254]

I've listened to this 7 times and get something new every time.

[@tabbazzseaye7549]

James Arthur Baldwin 1924- 1987

[@seankelly1291]

At what point does James get tired of using the same rhetoric, the same terminology, over and over again, knowing full well that we haven’t yet understood him? I need to listen to him over and over again in order to remember, and commit to my heart, his perspective. And I am as happy to listen to him again and again, as I am ashamed at my inability to hear him the first time. But I am so grateful for his patience in knowing, and having the patience to deal with, my ignorance of the black American perspective. I am so belittled by this great mentor. And so much made better by his teachings about my ignorance. James Baldwin is my greatest hero, and I’m sure he would he would rather not be my greatest hero. I would rather he was my favorite lover, and just accept the divinity of that relationship. But here we are. Also, I absolutely love the relationship between him and the so called church. And how he translates that as an artist. Rather than an atheist. The cultural identity between humans and the church is another avenue that his form of behaviorism really hits home. The invention of our mythology is not fit to weigh against the facts of our existence. And that is worth writing our future against. This talk makes me want to define myself against my compulsion to be an artist. I know that I am compelled to write, for example, but I am compelled to design my life around my artistic compulsions because of the sacrifices made by such heroes. I am made better because of my inability to fully understand his perspective, and that I feel compelled to understand it. And I will not stop until I can communicate this perspective in kind. And beyond, to the anarchy which it demands.

[@JayJay-wg5ex]

You don't need to have his perspective. You need to find your own. Start by not putting yourself down frequently in order to be likeable.

[@ragantate3995]

Nothing he says is rhetoric

[@sonteesontee4227]

At least you listen and recognize that you need to understand. We all are to some extent ignorant; there is no shame in being ignorant. The problem is with those of us who deny that ignorance and who do not try to rise above it.

[@l.w.paradis2108]

There is a Library of America edition of most of his major nonfiction works, edited by Toni Morrison. Read that twice. It is SO worth it, I promise you.

[@seankelly1291]

@@l.w.paradis2108 thank you. I will

[@notliketoast8074]

parts of this made me cry

[@monnieeeeyt7037]

My MAIN MAN!!!😎I love this ancestor right here.

[@MaddyUtopyParis]

underrated content. Baldwin was such a visionnary

[@derwentalia]

he was but many of the things he says are simple truths. what made him a visionary and genius isnt his IQ, its his simple acknolwedgement of social reality *as it is*, its his understanding of the human condition *as it is*. most people dont want the truth, they want to hear what makes them feel better/good about themselves. there's a quote that sums his work/words up sublimely: in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

[@user-cv7nj7xt7h]

Oceans of blessings y'all ❤❤❤❤

[@gabrielhopson1553]

Recreate the self. Face yourself. Close the divide.

[@thegeneralstrike6747]

Gabriel Hopson Drive that nail! CLOSE THE DIVIDE, or be eternally lost in our own forest of duality.... Hit it on the head.

[@thegeneralstrike6747]

Gabriel Hopson One more thing. Without self actualization there can be no empathy.

[@Robert-qh3ok]

A fierce man of great courage; he laid it all on the line. Americans don't know their own history and they will forever suffer due to that...

[@daolumachine]

Phew.... 10 minutes in and this has already changed my life. 😭😭😭

[@kevintownsend2969]

I am blessed to live in a tome where i have access to James Baldwin and so many of his great works.

[@jlosinski]

17:08 - "... The artist, no matter how he sounds, is by definition, a religious man, believing that we can create and transcend all our gods. That it is entirely up to us, it is the work of human beings, to make the world more human. This is the demand that the artist makes of his society, which society inevitably, unfailingly, and always resists. Resists because it knows that it could do it, but prefers to believe what it can see and touch is more real that what it knows and feels..."

[@healthlyght3051]

The grandson of a slave-- image his life experiences- the words , both written and spoken- tugs the mind into Responsiblity of Action!

[@user-qi8zf7cm6i]

His word is food, and I am very very, Hungry. Thanks

[@mochapella]

yes...we're all starving to death for soul food

[@peterharris3137]

HE was required reading in NYC,..NOW I SEE WHY.

[@suzgleason]

Also required reading in Berkeley public schools 1963

[@iambeadman]

15:27 "Prove - That people can be better, than they are" Right on, right on James Baldwin.

[@lindseygreenberg]

---- my god, @ 14:50 mark ,... & few minutes after. my god, what supreme eloquence...!

[@jlosinski]

Agreed- it brought me to tears. He understood.

[@37Dionysos]

THANKS!

[@HeyAnnieMok]

Thanks for uploading this, essential listening

[@yusefandersen]

The Miles Davis of philosophy

[@SpencerWSmith-zk8bp]

Classic and Relevant as ALWAYS...

[@vickikondylas555]

Many Thanks for the video,,,,👍🙌🎯

[@mrjones7222]

Thank u🐦

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

Wham! Incredible.

[@rogersmithmy3887]

Nice one.

[@gracious6461]

This man dress like a real hot stepper dapper to the T that glasses is saying I'm watching you watching me

[@brandgardner211]

dig that outfit :) and those shades :) lol -- and great lecture

[@HOODIZM3]

Pure Genius

[@s0medebr1s]

40:00 So deep and absolutely relevant to all

[@raj_poorman]

Bravo Encore Toujours::JB walked it & is the embodiment of truth

[@franosbornblaschke3694]

Yes Yes Yes! Let's change the future! Sounds like Fun! Thanks Mr. Baldwin! : )

[@thegeneralstrike6747]

Was it Wittgestien who said something like "it is the most important, the most sacred, internally priceless things, emotions, that have no words to describe them. There are no words for the value they can represent."(paraphrased) Mr. Baldwin I am speechless, and forever in your debt.

[@sallyreynolds3410]

One night I went into an small Spanish restaurant in the village somehow I looked away while the waiter escorted me to my table.Till today I remember when we connected he gave A Wonderful Smile not even knowing me❤️✌️

[@hotstixx]

Wish he was around now to see what an artist has become.. He climb back into his casket.

[@lindseygreenberg]

my god, @ 14:50 mark ,... & few minutes after. my god, what supreme eloquence...!

[@larryroane3337]

Tremendous

[@BaldwinFanonGarveyTureShakurX]

It's 55:05 for me. Lordt what a profound artist, man, human being!

[@nightoftheworld]

3:24 "Now the trouble with such things as: _'the moral responsibility of the artist'_ (which is a very grandiose way of putting it) is that in order to begin to deal with such a subject at all one's got to begin by being extremely reckless and extremely simple minded. For example, before we can begin to discuss it ones got to arrive at some kind of tentative agreement as to _what_ or _who_ an artist is. And that would seem a very simple matter if it were not for two facts, which I suggest to you (at least two facts) and _especially in this country and at this time_ [May 21, 1963]. One: Is that one has got to disengage the artistic effort, one has got to separate it from what is normally thought of in this country (perhaps in the world) when they speak of 'self-expression'. And to give you some idea of how loaded the subject is, the very conjunction of the two words: *self* - *expression* opens up a _tremendous_ wilderness: _Whø_ is this *$elf* and "w-h-∆-†" is it exp®essing? But to stick to my point-the artistic effort is first of all defined by the necessity, by the abs-... the discipline is that one has got to become disinterested. That is to say, I may have excellent reasons private, emotional terrors, for some reason I may not want to think this is wood-but in order to become an artist I've got to say that this is wood even if it threatens my life and even if I know it will destroy me. Now the reason... were going to come back to that in a minute-this effort at being disinterested-which is a bone of the artistic discipline, but the second reason is in some ways even more important and it's certainly connected to the first reason. Which is the fact... now bear in mind when I say fact, _this_ is a fact, _I_ am a fact, all of you are _collective and individual_ facts, and the city in which we stand and the country in which we find ourselves are *facts* _like rain like thunder like lightning like fire._ The fact, the fact of the artist has always attacked and it attacks now and as far as we can tell it probably always will attack all of our notions of *safety* and all of our notions of *health.* Now speaking, if I may for a moment, simply as an artist who tries to work with words. A literary artist soon realizes that all words are *at least* _double edged._ There is for example such a thing as health and there really is such a thing as _health_ but there is also such a thing as what society thinks of as *health* which is _not_ the same thing. Now when you are trying to suggest (for example: _what health is_ ) you are _forced_ to attack all of the assumptions of your society. Because it imagines health to be collective where as the artist is forced to recognize and is obliged to make you know that health is _single, individual and uncertain._ There's never a moment in anybody's life when the job is as it were *done.* You may make it on Tuesday but you've still got Wednesday morning to face. Now the reason that traditionally (this is according to me, presently as I said you who have chanted no you can attack me) but legend is full of stories about the dreamy poet, the mad lover, the poet overtaking the lover-marvelous conjunction. Traditionally and classically the artist is always possessed, traditionally and classically he's always been stoned (and there are many ways of stoning an artist to death) by the people who produced him because they needed him. Now what was he possessed by? Now this is where we get into the extra ordinary marshy ground of who and what an artist is. Now according to me, what an artist is/who an artist is, is simply somebody who helps you see reality again. The pressures of everyones life (including if I may say so those of the artist) are so great that one has (in self defense, in order to survive, in order to get through one single day) to learn certain habits, to take certain things for granted. With the effect inevitably that by and by you don't see anything. Now let me repeat that. I've have to assume for example I have to take for granted that this platform will not fall down beneath me-I must take that for granted. I assume that this building is built strongly enough that the ceiling wont fall down upon me. Now these are assumptions which may or may not be justified, but I must make these assumptions in order to move at all. On the other hand, in order to keep alive in order to become a human being really- *one has got to question everything.* "

[@satya3290]

thanks

[@jltorres6320]

The beginning of Baldwin's speech until 3:24: Thank you and good evening. And I’m very glad to be here, and can you all hear me? Now if you can’t hear me, you’ve got to let me know. Now, I’ve been given a kind of topic, which I don’t mean to criticize anybody. I agreed on the topic. And what I am supposed to be talking to you about this evening is the moral, which one can also read as social, which is the moral responsibility of the artist. Now this is, once one begins to think about it, so loaded a theme (so loaded a subject) that no one can hope to do it justice. And all that I hope I can do this evening is to speculate with you then have you try to speculate with me. I’ll will try to ask you some questions and then you will try to ask me some. And then we will try--we’ll see what happens.

[@Joe-kn3wt]

Thank You.

[@betsycawn2593]

Lecture ends at around 40 minutes or so; wish we could hear the individuals who are in the audience asking questions, although Baldwin tries to articulate what the distant speaker is getting at. Otherwise, magnificent.

[@kenncounty]

One of the corner stones of information

[@chriswhiteiii]

Sound cuts out 31:42 . Sound comes back in 31:54 . Thank you @thepostarchive

[@zachariumaru3536]

He will always remain the greatest freedom fighter and a pan africanist.

[@WallKenshiro]

This is how prophets speak.

[@dmswanson5694]

Knowing as voice.

[@parkbench94]

Life in the end becomes how much of a memory you leave behind. Will you be remembered? How will you be remembered? As you live your life, maybe not to much thought is given to these questions. The feelings of how you are thought of now seems paramount to your life. How you think of yourself and how others think of you is skewed by what you want people to think of you. If you lie to yourself, is that what you want people to believe is true? Is that the real you? They say time will reveal all, so if your moments are false, some how and in some way the truth about you will be revealed. In the end that is how you will be remembered. Some people will commit suicide to make a statement, "I will show you", was recently a video on Facebook, of a young girl who felt mis-understood. Her statement was if this is what you want, I will kill myself... I felt so sad for her because she was beautiful and intelligent, but felt know one knew her. I could see who see was, but those who knew her did not see her. So, how do you want to be remembered???

[@samuelmadsen]

I don’t know how this a laughing matter to the audience at numerous instances

[@jlosinski]

13:20 - "... the artist is possessed by a vision which is precisely this- it is the vision of the New Jerusalem, it is the vision of the kingdom of heaven on earth, and where the war begins between the artist and his society is precisely here- it is only the artist, as distinguished from the priest, the psychoanalyst, the Pope.. it is only the artist who is really given us any sense of what it's like to be alive, to be trapped- and to glory in this fact- that one is forever, or for a very short time, and I mean both things at once, between that sky and this earth, and you came from someplace and you're going someplace else, you don't know where you're going and you don't know where you came from, and what it feels like to be here and to triumph in it. The artist has given us his record. And the war is a very strange war when you begin to realize that the reason the artist is possed by the vision of the New Jerusalem is not at all because he is a dreamer, not at all because he's unrealistic- his vision is based on what he has seen of human beings- what one sees of them- what one sees of another- proves that people can be better than than they are."

[@dannysantiago6590]

The Goat... Ase'

[@warrenmoon7709]

❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@TheLoloCynthiaShow]

Where can i get the transcript of this VIDEO PLEASE!!!!

[@wtfsamusidk7574]

Dance or die: The Struggle

[@lindseygreenberg]

/..... __ my god, @ 14:50 mark ,... & few minutes after. my god, what supreme eloquence...!

[@shirleycanida6776]

Thank u Mr Baldwin magnificently spoken many thanks.

[@VasilisaForbes]

THIS.

[@thysunmatt7842]

BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS POWER

[@songsalon7868]

COOL MUHFUH....RIGHT HERR

[@SueLyons1]

the artist is ' somebody who helps you see reality again ' 09:40 👍 👏 👏 👏 ' in order to be a human being, one has got to question everything ' 👍 10:45 18:50 🤔 💭 🤔 in this mental constructs, no pagan is an artist; he has no pagan conception of life 😔 ; he has no #onesharedearth conception, of us as just orn species on this 🌎 beautiful blue planet 🌎 of all of ours; his mental constructs starts and stops with human life, not plant life, not microbial life, not insect life, not atmospheric life, not bird life, not fish life and on andnon and on 😔 things very very sad and restricted 😔 23:05 ' no American dares yo look back ' 🤔 31:30 ' this is a lapse that can 🇺🇸 lead us 🇺🇸 where it 🇩🇪 led Germany 🇩🇪 ' 👍 👏 👏 👏 😔 34:00ish Baldwin says life is 'tragic'because everything changes ??? me: life is ❤ glorious ❤ because everything is always in a state of flux ❤ 💙 💜 💖 💗 💘 38:15ish ' the great hangover here is the doctrine of white supremacy ' 38:50ish ' now, if we can establish this wedding or, rather, if we can legalise this child we can begin to grow up ' 👍 👏 👏 👏 ' the word negro is just the Spanish word for black ' 👍 ' it only got to be my problem when I realised it was your problem ' around 46:00 👍 51:10 ' What do I think of Christ? I think he was probably one of the most betrayed poor bastards in the world ' 53:10 ' Am I an atheist? No. But the question is irrelevant ' 👍 👏 👏 👏 54:38 ' man is a social animal... the principles that govern American society are largely utilitarian... it is extremely suspect in American to be able to think let alone be able.to talk ' 👍 around 56:30 58:00 ' the trick is to recreate oneself ' 😔 really 😔 so internal and reflexive 😔 so closed to external influences and external life 😔 1:00:40 ' I am not the victim here 👍 I have been mistreated That is true. But you have been even more violently mistreated because you pretended that I did not exist. '

[@jacobturnage]

Thank you for this. Funny how Trump is in his 70s, I made a bet with a friend he wouldn't get re-elected for $100, I'll be thinking of James.

[@Xbigblunts419X]

dont fuck this up by bring up trump just enjoy this for what it is

[@jenwavyy]

i hate homework

[@dreykini407]

JAMES BALDWN needs to be taught K-12, maybe Betsy Devos edu secretary...she seems not to have a clue.