At the height of the roaring twenties, and the Harlem Renaissance, James Baldwin emerged on the literary scene, and along with his fellow contemporaries Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston, helped re-inject into the canon of American Literature, the discussion, and question concerning where the African-American community stood in American Culture, even going as far as to explore whether such a people so marginalized at time even had a place. But more significantly, as a bisexual, Baldwin also cemented himself as an icon among those in the LGBTQ circles, whom, much like their African-American peers, believed they had been silenced by the white noise that was, and even today, still is American Society.

Able to capture with unparalleled compassion, and conviction, his personal struggles that have been the struggles of so many marginalized for the color of their skin and sexuality within the body of his literature, James Baldwin's unblemished legacy continues to resound across time. Inspiring not only a whole generation of renowned writers, artists, and leaders in the likes of Toni Morrison, Elia Kazan, Allen Ginsburg, Martin Luther King Jr., Chinua Achebe, and Lee Strasberg to name just a few but inspiring the art that is being. Being yourself that is the art which distinguishes you from others. But also establishes your dignity as one who is a human being among those trying to be human.

A voice for the ostracized, the unheard, the unheeded, and the forgotten, James Baldwin forever remains that voice. The voice that spoke, and in doing so, spoke to so many. Leaving behind for them a voice to use. To speak. To be remembered. To be regarded. To be heard. To be accepted, and to receive acceptance for being like so many have sought, and continue to be.