James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) is a semi-autobiographical novel centered on fourteen-year-old John Grimes, growing up in 1930s Harlem within a Black Pentecostal community. Set largely over the course of John's fourteenth birthday and culminating in a long night of prayer at his family's storefront church, the novel unfolds through extended flashbacks that reveal the histories of his stern, preacher stepfather Gabriel, his mother Elizabeth, and his aunt Florence—each shaped by the trauma, migration, and racism of the post-slavery South. Through these interwoven perspectives, Baldwin explores themes of religious ecstasy and hypocrisy, generational conflict, sexuality, and the search for identity and salvation, as John struggles to reconcile his own emerging selfhood with his family's demanding faith and painful past. The novel is celebrated for its lyrical, sermon-like prose and its unflinching portrayal of how history and personal suffering shape religious conviction. The novel is generally regarded as Baldwin's best novel and one of the great African-American novels of the 20th Century.

Discussions will be led by Holly Marihugh. Registration is required.