A listener note, this episode contains strong language and may not be suitable for everyone. Imagine it's the summer of 1973. You're a 22 year old correspondent for Time magazine, traveling through France to write a series

of stories about African American artists living abroad. Last week you spent a glorious afternoon

in the home of the expat writer James Baldwin,

interviewing him and his friend, the singer and dancer Josephine Baker, over bottles of wine.

You were practically moved to tears at being in the presence of the man who become a hero to young black writers of your generation

You're proud of the story you turned in a few days ago and you've been eagerly waiting a call from your editor

Hello? Hey, it's Tom calling from New York.

I wanted to talk to you about this story.

Great, I've been looking forward to hearing from you.

I've been thinking, maybe I didn't do enough to capture the beauty

of Baldwin's house in St. Paul Devons. I mean, the light was spectacular, and all those rosemary hedges

and strawberry fields and grape arbors.

Whoa, whoa, slow down a second.

What I wanted to tell you is that we've decided not to run the story.

Wait, what?

That's right, we're killing it.

Sorry, kid.

But why?

We've decided Baldwin is a bit past his prime.

He's pass a.

I know you want the byline, but I'm not sure our readers think he's relevant anymore.

Not relevant. Are you kidding me? After all he did for the civil rights movement, he's written some of the most powerful novels

...