The two essays that comprise James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time probe the concept of identity. In these texts, Baldwin connects the concepts of nationhood and race and calls for the transformation of the realities of both. He argues that, in order for America to achieve its true ideal as a nation, the union of Black Americans and White Americans is imperative. To accomplish this difficult political and social realignment, Baldwin maintains that Black Americans need to recognize the beauty in their past, while White Americans need to recognize the reality of their country by listening to and learning from Black Americans. To understand Baldwin fully, his work needs to be placed in conversation with other Black American writers and thinkers. In drawing from W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, Baldwin persuasively stages an argument about Black American identity. His work stands as a counterargument to the philosophies of Marcus Garvey and Elijah Muhammad.

Baldwin argues that Black and White Americans have a shared identity as Americans. Because of this, he claims that the fate of the nation depends not on the separation of these racial classes - which he sees as mere political categories - but their true integration. For America to become a true nation, he asserts, “the black and the white, deeply need each other” (97). Baldwin’s argument that Black and White Americans are interdependent runs contrary to Marcus Garvey’s position. Unlike Baldwin, Garvey distinguishes Black and White Americans sharply. Believing they have different identities, Garvey advocated racial separation. He promoted an independent Black economy and advocated for the establishment of “commercial ventures between African Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Africans'' (''The Harlem Renaissance and the 1920s”). Taking as his starting point the idea that economic independence was the prerequisite for political freedom, Garvey urged African Americans to erect an independent economic system. Throughout The First Next Time, Baldwin rejects this position because he views America as a united country, one that cannot support the prospect of an independent Black economy. For example, when he departs from Elijah Mohammed’s house, Baldwin openly wonders how a Black economy could withdraw from the broader American one. If such a secession were in fact possible, Baldwin argues that it would, in effect, diminish the spending power of Black Americans. 

Baldwin extends his argument on forging a true nation with specific arguments for Black and White Americans to examine their situations. Primarily, Baldwin calls on Black Americans to recognize the beauty in their painful history. Baldwin believes that the past of Black Americans, “for all its horror, [is] something very beautiful”; this line of reasoning is supported by Baldwin’s claim that people who do not suffer “can never discover who they are” (98). To underscore this point, he notes that the torture Black Americans have endured is beautiful, because it has chiseled their identity and allowed them to discover the cruelty and bitterness that comes from being oppressed (99). This historical conception - which Baldwin paradoxically maintains must likewise be transcended - distinguishes him from Elijah Muhammad, who maintains a separate conception of history. In his version, Black men were perfect and were the sole race in existence, until the Devil created White people. Baldwin points out that the past Muhammad describes does not correspond with reality. He argues that Black Americans need to accept the real past, not an invented one, because only the real past can enable the transcendence of the political categories of race, nation, and religion that are required.

For White Americans, Baldwin requests attention to the experiences of Black Americans. He calls on them to recognize the reality of their country. Contrary to the belief of Muhammad, Baldwin does not agree that White Americans are devils who need to be destroyed. Instead, he sees White Americans as children. He sees them as painfully and dangerously misguided. He sees them as ignorant of the reality of their country (101). However, Black Americans understand the reality of America and can guide White Americans to see the country’s full scope. Baldwin requests that White Americans listen and learn from Black Americans about the beauty of the history they have gone through. 

Although Baldwin believes that his solutions could transform America into a nation, he recognizes that the transcendence of America entails action. He would likely agree with W.E.B Du Bois that, to achieve social change, Black Americans need to take action. However, the approach for action Baldwin believes in positions him against Du Bois and more in line with Booker T. Washington. Du Bois advocates for a confrontational approach to achieve social change. He believed that it is imperative that Black Americans demonstrate ceaseless complaint, agitation, and exposure of injustice in society. However, Baldwin believes that the success of achieving a true nation lies in the efforts of Black and White Americans to align. On this point, he is more in line with Washington’s advocacy for racial solidarity and accommodation. Baldwin calls for the union of Black and White Americans.

In The Fire Next Time, Baldwin agrees with and argues against the ideas of prominent Black leaders. Contrary to the idea of Garvey, Baldwin argues that Black and White Americans share the same identity as members of a single nation. Against the idea of Muhammad, Baldwin argues that Black Americans should see the truth of their history so that they can make use of it. Baldwin agrees with Du Bois that action needs to be taken in solving America’s racial issues. However, he rejects Du Bois’s confrontational approach and is more in line with Washington’s philosophy of racial solidarity.

Ultimately, however, what distinguishes Baldwin is his argument about transcendence. He finds that American salvation, which would entail salvation for Black and White Americans equally, can not take place through alter, race, or nation. Instead, it must take place by rising above these limiting constructions. Baldwin acknowledges that the argument entails a set of paradoxes. To be one nation, America must transcend nationhood. To celebrate Black identity, America must embrace and transcend race. The project he describes is difficult, but its challenge is what makes it noteworthy and worthwhile.