Or maybe the hope that the minority would just disappear (Brown). All Rights Reserved. Why not stand up for those who land on Death Row, especially given what we know about police discrimination and, in particular, unlawful practices in the South? Within a few years, the city would pass a referendum banning black people from living on blocks that were minimally 75 percent white. Understand more, faster. The legend of Stagger Lee is one of the most important and enduring stories from American folklore. While many were able to access his essays in publications such as The Progressive and by reading his novels once the first was published in 1953 at the time it was written, Lynn Orilla Scott and D. Quentin Miller bring to life his work today. (J. Baldwin, Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems 6). In that spirit, this essay will analyze his poem, “Staggerlee wonders”, to illustrate how Baldwin is able to weave together politics and poetry in order for his readers to see how Black and White culture clash with each other. He does it again; you find yourself ( I'm speaking for myself here) almost hovering over one of Nick's tales, you're suspended in the air just watching as this horror unfolds; but Nick is so slick and just so full of confidence I find it really enticing. In several historical accounts of King’s life and of the Civil Rights Movement, Baldwin emerges as a muse, a critic, and an activist (L. V. Baldwin, There Is a Balm in Gilead: The Cultural Roots of Martin Luther King, Jr.; L. V. Baldwin, Behind the Public Veil: The Humanness of Martin Luther King Jr.; Oates; Payne). This illustration sets the stage for the subsequent parts that lead the reader through the evolution from this oppression. Harvard University Press, 2003. The Song and Myth of Stagger Lee. In a number of variations, even death itself is not the end for Stagger Lee. Born and raised in Harlem, New York City, Baldwin won a fellowship that enabled him to live in Paris. For example, by simply reading the first paragraph of the two-page epilogue to No Name in the Street, the reader is exposed to the breadth and depth of Baldwin’s reflection upon the 1960’s. For instance, there might be much to learn from the fact that Baldwin does not use “Black” or “White” throughout the piece, which in and of itself is a strong statement on social constructions. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. As Billy staggered along the bar, clutching the rail, Lee walked up and, retrieving his Stetson, said, “I told you to give me my hat!” He then turned and walked calmly home. 3, Oct. 1944, p. 161. edb. On the other hand, Stagger can represent truth and justice, because sometimes in the oral history of Stagger Lee, Billy is a police officer. Scribner, 1969, https://books.google.com/books?id=pPP0-om_SFMC. Sadly more relevant today than it should be. (J. Baldwin, Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems 17). Baldwin was among the many poets who visited with public radio host Henry Lyman on … In one interview given during the 1970’s Baldwin offers thoughts about intersectionality, a term that summarizes his life as a gay, Black man rather succinctly: I’m in the process of experimenting. According to the prison record, he had a face and torso that boasted several scars. Lee was our captain. Lee Shelton himself, armed with a pistol and buoyed by drink on that Christmas night more than 120 years ago, certainly had no inkling that his rash act of violence would elevate him to the pantheon of mythical Americans. The Annotated “Stagger Lee.” http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/stagger.html. In addition to his holdings in Deep Morgan, Lee occupied an impressive brick house at 911 North Twelfth Street, situated in a more upscale neighborhood. As a man, the lowlife pimp and murderer Lee Shelton has all but sunk into obscurity. Close reading made easy for students. Born in 1924, James Baldwin experienced the Great Depression first hand and intensely: Baldwin came of age in Harlem in a family of 11. For such men as Stack Lee Shelton, however, business was booming. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. “Staggerlee wonders” shows Baldwin’s interest in the way form and sound are integral to storytelling in poetry. (J. Baldwin, Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems 13). And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. Nikki Finney’s Introduction to the Jimmy’s Blues and other poems –  by itself, an example of the power of language – explains the impact of Baldwin’s language: I do not believe James Baldwin can be wholly read without first understanding White men and their penchant for tyranny and “unrelenting brutality.” If you read Baldwin without this truth, you will mistake Baldwin’s use of the work nigger as how he saw himself, instead of that long-suffering character, imagined, invented, and marched to the conveyor belt as if it was the hanging tree, by the founding fathers of the Republic, in order that they might hold on for as long as possible to “the very last White country the world will ever” (J. Baldwin, Jimmy’s Blues and Other Poems xiv). PDF Downloads of all 1425 LitCharts literature guides. Beacon Press, 2014. Read with a 2019 lens, Baldwin’s perspective is utterly profound: This book has been much delayed by trials, assassinations, funerals, and despair. 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