I Am Not Your Negro

Why did Baldwin select King, X, and Evers as subjects? How does their grouping inform the reader’s understanding of the civil rights movement?

Although Raoul Peck doesn’t include any original text outside of his introduction, he is listed as a co-author, alongside Baldwin. How does Peck’s voice come through in the text? How does his voice, or editorial intent, affect the meaning of the included materials?

I Am Not Your Negro can be considered a text companion to the film of the same name. How does the literary form affect the reader’s understanding or experience of the text? How does the experience change when you engage with the film instead?

Baldwin is both the focus of this work, and, during certain sections, the narrator. Along with Baldwin’s own words, the text includes excerpts from many films and television segments that do not involve Baldwin directly. How does this approach affect Baldwin’s voice? Is he an authoritative, omniscient narrator, or is the role of his voice more complex?

How does the text formulate Baldwin’s main arguments, and the challenges to these arguments? Does the text respond to any of Baldwin’s critics? If so, how?

From the introduction through the body of the work, the text references many locations, grounding events in specific cities. How is environment conveyed and used in the text?

Baldwin argues that America is split into two levels of experience: White and Black. He also uses narratives about Native Americans and White settler colonialism to illustrate his points about racism. How does the text reconcile the White/Black dualistic representation of race with the knowledge that other racial groups have suffered from White violence?

I Am Not Your Negro is relatively light on biographical information. Baldwin’s partner, Lucien Happersberger, for instance, is only mentioned in a single line. Given this, how is Baldwin constructed as a figure and a character? What appears to be Peck’s method of selecting character-building details to include?