Previous Condition

"Previous Condition" is a 1948 short story by James Baldwin from the collection, Going to Meet the Man.

Plot introduction

Peter, an actor, is surreptitiously living in a white neighbourhood in New York.

Plot summary

Back from Chicago where he was working, Peter is now in New York City. His friend Jules lets him stay in a room he is renting in a white neighbourhood; despite hiding, Peter is eventually found out by the other neighbours and the landlady. She evicts him, and he goes back to Jules's, who says he will let him stay at his place. Jules and Peter engage in a long philosophical discussion about the nature of Blackness and Jewishness in America. Later, he goes to dinner with his friend Ida, who suggests suing the landlady, but he prefers not to. He then leaves, takes the subway, and goes to a black bar where he buys a drink for two women.

Characters

Peter, the protagonist. He is a short black man. He was named after his father. He works as an actor in theatre plays.
Jules Weissman, a Jewish boy who finds the room in New York for the protagonist.
Ida, a white girl of Irish descent, from Boston. She married a gay ballet dancer for money.
the white couple on the subway

References to other works

Some neighbours are playing Beethoven.
"Hamp's Boogie", Ella Fitzgerald's "Cow-Cow Boogie".

References to actual history

Peter says he cannot live up to Booker T. Washington.

Main themes

Racism and African Americans.

Works by James Baldwin

Novels	Go Tell It on the Mountain Giovanni's Room Another Country Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone If Beale Street Could Talk Just Above My Head

Plays	The Amen Corner Blues for Mister Charlie

Short story collections	Going to Meet the Man "The Rockpile" "The Outing" "The Man Child" "Previous Condition" "Sonny's Blues" "This Morning, This Evening, So Soon" "Come Out the Wilderness" "Going to Meet the Man"

Poetry collection	Jimmy's Blues

Essay collections	Notes of a Native Son Nobody Knows My Name The Fire Next Time No Name in the Street The Devil Finds Work The Evidence of Things Not Seen The Price of the Ticket

Collaborations	Nothing personal A Rap on Race One day when I was lost A Dialogue Little Man Little Man: A Story of Childhood