Janelle Monáe, Lupita Nyong'o & Other Celebs Urge You to Read James Baldwin

Samuel L. Jackson is "not your Negro." Janelle Monae is "not your bitch." Common is "not your criminal." Chris Rock is "not your thug." Lupita Nyong'o is "not your noble savage."

Some of today's most influential black celebs and activists came together to help preserve James Baldwin's legacy. In a video for Mic, they urge Americans to read his work and watch the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro.

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The film attempts to recreate Baldwin's lost, unfinished work--a treatise on race in America that is as poignant now as ever before. Director Raoul Peck is working with various organizations like the Ford Foundation and Emerson Collective to build a national initiative to make Baldwin's works a part of school curricula.

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"Read James Baldwin," Monae, et al proclaim. "Know your Baldwin."