The Baton Foundation will offer an author lecture about the 1965 debate between author James Baldwin and conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. This virtual program 3 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 20. It is free, but registration is required.
On February 18, 1965, an overflowing crowd packed the Cambridge Union in Cambridge, England, to witness a historic televised debate between James Baldwin, the leading literary voice of the civil rights movement, and William F. Buckley Jr., a fierce critic of the movement and America’s most influential conservative intellectual.
The topic was “has the American dream been achieved at the expense of the American Negro?” and no one who has seen the debate can soon forget it.
Nicholas Buccola’s, The Fire Is upon Us, is the first book to tell the full story of the event–the radically different paths that led Baldwin and Buckley to it, the controversies that followed, and how the debate and the decades-long clash between the men continue to illuminate America’s racial divide today.
The Baton Foundation continues to monitor the impact of COVID-19 in Atlanta and in the State of Georgia, and what that means. The Baton Foundation team remains committed to its concern for the health and safety of patrons and partners. The organization will not offer on-site programming and/or events until further notice. Instead, it will offer limited virtual programming.
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