James Baldwin, whose passionate, intensely personal essays in the 1950's and 60's on racial discrimination in America made him an eloquent voice of the civil-rights movement, died of stomach cancer early yesterday at his home in St. Paul de Vence in southern France. He was 63 years old.

Two cultural luminaries will light up Philadelphia's Adrienne Theatre Second Stage in January 2010 when Mauckingbird Theatre Company puts solo plays about James Baldwin and Truman Capote on stage, in repertory.

Ashland "James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket" will be screened Thursday at 7 p.m. in the community room at Ashland Public Library as part of the library's documentary film and discussion series. Baldwin was a major 20th-century American author and civil rights activist, and the film relies upon archival footage and newsreels to evoke Baldwin's formative years in 1930s ...