European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday december 2, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3 is James Baldwin Dies at 63 St. Paul de Vence. France map James Baldwin whose firs novel on Tell it on the Moun Tain established him an a major american or incr and whose later Worts explored . Race relations has died. He was 63. Baldwin died monday night at his Home in South pm France of Slomach cancer said Chanel Lapic que a spokeswoman for Baldwin s French publisher editions Stock. He had undergone an operation task Spring and his health had declined steadily since then la Picque said. 5 aria if Story on pm i3 surrounded by members of his family including his brother David Baldwin had not lost Hope and was planning to finish a Book on the Rev. Martin Luther King or. Despite his illness he told friends he wanted to write a last play. Baldwin lived in France for about 40 years. Four years ago when he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Nice he said he considered France a Refuge far from the american  a Friend said a funeral would be held in new York on Friday. Baldwin author of notes of a motive son the fire next time and no name in the Street was called one of the few indispensable american writers by american critic Benjamin de Mon. A slight Small Man who had a Sharp sense of humor. James Baldwin son of a pastor was bom in Harlem in new York City on aug. 2,1924. The Black writer was a Strong opponent of racism and intolerance and that belief permeated much of his writing. He once denied a racist As a Coward who is afraid of himself in the Early 1960s, the author suggested in his writing that Blacks must save Whites from their own self destructive . He turned militant in the 1970s and wrote thai Blacks must seize Power from Whites. Black people Don t believe anything while people say anymore Baldwin said in an interview with the associated press in 1983 at his 16th-Century Hillside Home North of Nice on the Riviera. James Baldwin they May want what White people want and they la want to set it one Way or another but the last remnants of Trust have been stripped away. Baldwin said in he a interview that integration was a failure. King probably died in vain equal Opportunity meant a handful of niggers in the win Dow Black run cities were political ghettos dependent on state and Federal Power and Black people had better Tave care of themselves because no on else is going to do it his last novel Harlem quartet was published this year in 1986, he wrote evidence of things not seen a Book based on the slayings of 29 Black children and Young adults from 1979 to 1981 in Atlanta. Wayne Williams a Young Black Man described by prosecutors As driven by racial self hatred was convicted in 1982 on two counts of murder for the Ilay Ings of two of the Black men. In 1986, French president Francois Mitterrand made Baldwin a commander in the French legion of Honor the nation s highest award. He was the Sec Ond Black american to receive the award after Singer Josephine Baker. Getting this award from the country that i adopted Means France has adopted me Baldwin said Anict receiving the award. It s a love affair. I Learned a lot in France. I his is the place where i grew up insofar As you can Ever say you grow up he added. Mitterrand referring to Baldwin s firsthand knowledge of discrimination and racial haired said during the award ceremony thai Baldwin s life s work explains the essential and not without a spark of humor when Baldwin was a student in new York teach ers recognized his Early Talent and encouraged him to pursue his education and career in writing. In 1948, Baldwin left Harlem and went to France on a writing Fellowship and completed his first play in France titled the amen  he left in 1957 during the algerian War Tor Independence and went to Little Rock ark., his first trip to the american South. He participated in the Early struggles for integration and spent part of that year in Atlanta before continuing his life As an expatriate writer. He was named a Salon fellow in 1945, Rosen Wald fellow in 1948, Guggenheim fellow in 19i4 and partisan review fellow in 1956. Baldwin said in the a interview he never Felt despair because that would be indefensible self i  i Don t feel despair but i do fee a certain urgency he said. To me despair is silence and i Don t Sec How you can write out of  poll indicates decline in popularity of Reagan gop new York