I Am Not Your Negro Summary
James Baldwin

I Am Not Your Negro Overview

This study guide is based on the companion book to the film, I Am Not Your Negro. Please note that throughout this guide, the title of I Am Not Your Negro refers to the book of that name, not the film. The film, I Am Not Your Negro, is based on the words of James Baldwin and directed by Raoul Peck. The companion book contains essays, letters, and videos of Baldwin, confronting race relations in America and the insidious ways the historical trauma continues to manifest itself in modern life. Baldwin examines these topics in large part through the lens of a book he was intending to write, Remember This House. Though Baldwin never finished the manuscript, he intended it to capture the lives and untimely deaths of his three murdered friends, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, all of whom were leaders in the 1960s struggle for civil rights. Using this manuscript, combined with images from films and advertisements, and with excerpts from Baldwin's writings and speeches, Peck has compiled a film that is as much about Baldwin himself as it is about race relations in America. Peck also demonstrates how these issues continue to be relevant today.