Tue Aug 06 2024

Dr. Jessica B. Harris is a food historian, author of the memoir High on the Hog (which became a popular Netflix series) and personal friend of James Baldwin. In this fascinating episode, she talks about Baldwin’s move to France, the surprising and delightful role that food and hospitality played in his life and work, and what it was like to be roommates with Toni Morrison at Baldwin’s house in France and listen to him read the first draft of If Beale Street Could Talk out loud for the first time. Then Baldwin historian Ed Pavlić explores the importance of the radical “Welcome Table” concept Baldwin created at his house in France.