Work In Progress: Case Study #1

James Baldwin, An Open Letter to My Sister, MIss Angela Davis

READ the published text: An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis, James Baldwin, January 7, 1971 Issue of the New York Review of Books

COMPARE a draft of the text: Typescript draft of An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis by James Baldwin, annotated and corrected by the author (Call Number: JWJ MSS MISC GROUP 4, Folder F-12)

Notice that Baldwin has written “Dear Sister” and the date at the top of the draft. What does that suggest about how this piece took shape?

What other differences do you notice?

Why do you think these changes were made?

What impact do these difference make on the final text?

NOTE: Additional resources follow

RESOURCES

James Baldwin Manuscript Holdings at Beinecke Library

Image Guide: James Baldwin Manuscripts and Photos at Beinecke Library

Robert Reid-Pharr on “Archives and Icons: James Baldwin and the Practice of Celebrity”

Work in Progress: Notes, Drafts, Revision, Publication

Work in Progress: Case Study 2: Langston Hughes, “Harlem”

Work in Progress: Case Study 3: Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

Pictured above: An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis by James Baldwin, broadside published  by the New York Committee to Free Angela Davis, [1970?], (Call Number: JWJ Zan B193 +970P).