Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years. (Podcast Hosted by Aldo B. Martin & Dr. Frank Leon Roberts)
Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years, 1940-1942 takes listeners on a fascinating journey to James Baldwin's early days as a teenage prodigy at New York City's famed DeWitt Clinton High School. Co-hosted by New York City-based podcast creator Aldo B. Martin and Harlem-based English Professor Frank Leon Roberts, Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years combines in-depth analysis, casual conversation and riveting audio performances of rare and never-before-recorded work written by teenage Baldwin. Insightful, conversational, and accessible—Finding James Baldwin: The Magpie Years will appeal to anyone with a love for James Baldwin, New York City, stories, conversation, podcasts, or the power of literature.
Episodes
21 episodes
Epilogue
In the final episode, Professor Roberts and Aldo discuss their thoughts and discoveries in holding space for this subject matter. The duo also attempt to explain why James Baldwin was, is, and will always be important. Epis...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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31:14
Chapter 17 - Rendezvous with Life
This episode discusses an interview that teenage Baldwin conducted in the Magpie. Also discussed, is James Baldwin's student/teacher relationship with Harlem Renaissance poet, Countee Cullen. Elena from 3B joins Aldo as a spe...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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42:13
Chapter 16 - Judgment Day
In this poem, titled "Judgment Day" young James Baldwin again experiments with the usage of African American Vernacular English. ...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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23:24
Chapter 15 - Loose Stone Rolling
In his latter years at DeWitt Clinton High School, James Baldwin wrote a poem titled “Loose Stone Rolling.” Professor Roberts argues that young Baldwin was proclaiming his life’s purpose with this poem. Aldo argues that such a procl...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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24:06
Chapter 14 - Sonnet
Also Professor Roberts and Aldo discuss "Sonnet," they borrow some of their thoughts from Professor Roberts' students. The duo continue with the theme of "peer collaboration" and introduce another one of James Baldwin's Magpie counterpart...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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26:02
Chapter 13 - Incident in London
One of the more noteworthy elements about "The Magpie," is the element of peer collaboration. While James Baldwin, the "Magpie" editor and writer, is the subject of this podcast, young Baldwin was also a part of a network of gifted and yo...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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30:42
Chapter 12 - Aunt Tina
"Aunt Tina," the fourth short story that James Baldwin wrote for "The Magpie," may have been the inspiration for some of the fictional characters that James Baldwin would go on create in his later years. In addition, Dr. Roberts argues th...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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25:47
Chapter 11 - Mississippi Legend
Mississippi Legend is one of the short stories that James Baldwin wrote in "The Magpie." Aldo suggests that the manner in which this short story was written, introduced the boys of Clinton High School to the world of African American Ver...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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23:25
Podcasting As Public Scholarship: Live @Amherst College
This episode is a live recording of the special event “Podcasting as Public Scholarship: Finding James Baldwin with Aldo B. Martin and Frank Leon Roberts,” recorded at
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59:25
Chapter 10 - The Dream
In this episode, Aldo and Dr. Roberts discuss the poem "The Dream." Aldo suggests that the poem may not be about a person. The duo discuss the impact that Clinton High School may have had on Baldwin and the impact that it may ...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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23:13
Chapter 9 - Youth (notes on Uncle Jimmy)
As they discuss James Baldwin's poem, "Youth," Aldo and Dr. Roberts bring up the importance of music in the literary world of James Baldwin. Dr. Roberts argues that one of Baldwin's literary themes is taking care of and providing co...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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24:51
Chapter 8 - Closing Doors
Baldwin wrote several entries in the Spring 1941 issue of the Magpie, including a poem titled "Closing Doors." Aldo suggests that the poem is about lost opportunity. Dr. Roberts discusses how James Baldwin's early poems allow us to ...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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16:58
Chapter 7 - These Two (A Play in Six Scenes)
In the Spring 1941 edition of "The Magpie," James Baldwin published a play titled "These Two." Dr. Roberts and Aldo discuss how some of the elements, themes, and literary strategies used in this piece are some of the same components that ...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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34:21
Chapter 6 - The Woman At The Well
In this week's episode, Professor Roberts and Aldo discuss the short story "The Woman At The Well." Written in 1941, it is a short story about an example of racism that leads to a violent outcome. Long before he became known as a Ci...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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37:38
Chapter 5 - Black Girl Shouting
In this episode we jump to the year 1942 and delve into a poem titled "Black Girl Shouting." Professor Roberts discusses how this poem contains four elements that would become Baldwin touchstone themes in his future work. Aldo dis...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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27:19
Chapter 4 - To Her
In this episode Aldo and Professor Roberts examine the poem To Her. In speaking about this poem, the duo could not help but to revert back to a previous work, Paradise, and see similarities in their origins P...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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18:19
Chapter 3 - Paradise
In this episode we examine the poem "Paradise," published in the winter of 1941. Professor Roberts sees the poem "Paradise" as laden with the influences of Countee Cullen, who is a poet of the Harlem Renaissance, Baldwin...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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24:32
Chapter 2 - Discovery
Before he became an English professor, Dr. Roberts was a fan of James Baldwin. Before he became a podcast creator, Aldo B. Martin was a fan of James Baldwin. In this episode, the two of them take the audience on a brief trip down me...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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14:55
Chapter 1 - Peace On Earth
Peace on Earth is the first story that fifteen year old James Baldwin writes in the Magpie. It’s a story about four friends entrenched in a fox hole, in the middle of an unnamed war.Professor Roberts points out how the the...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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37:02