Summary

In Chapter 2, "Witness," tells the story of Dorothy "Dot" Counts. In 1957, Counts was the first black student to attend Harding High School in North Carolina. Counts met unprecedented harassment. Her picture was in the paper afterwards. In No Name for the Streets, Baldwin recounted seeing Count's photo and story on a newsstand in Paris; it inspired him to move home and join the civil rights effort.

Glaude says Baldwin's memory failed him; based on his other writings and autobiographical information, he spent another year in Paris after seeing Count's photo. Glaude argues that "Baldwin's mistake in recalling why he returned to the United States revealed how trauma colored his witness" (32). Examining Baldwin's writings, Glaude discovers an increasing anger and heartbreak. The loss of his friends and the many failures of the movement compelled him to escape America. "'My luck was running out,'...