"The Harlem Ghetto"
Baldwin points to the very high rent in Harlem. Moreover, although there are black politicians, the President is white. On the black press, Baldwin notes that it emulates the white press, with its scandalous spreads. However the black Church seems to him to be a unique forum for the spelling out of black injustice. Finally, he ponders on antisemitism amongst blacks and comes to the conclusion that the frustration boils down to Jews being white, and more powerful than Negroes.
"Journey to Atlanta"
Baldwin tells the story that happened to The Melodeers, a group of jazz singers (including two of Baldwin's brothers) employed by the Progressive Party to sing in Southern Churches. However, once in Atlanta, Georgia, they were used for canvassing until they refused to sing at all and were returned to their hometown. Baldwin concludes the section by writing that the Melodeers were “not particularly bitter toward the Progressive Party, though they can scarcely be numbered among its supporters.”
"Notes of a Native Son"
Baldwin paints a vivid recollection of his time growing up with a paranoid father who was dying of tuberculosis, and his initial experience with Jim Crow style segregation. Prior to his father's death, Baldwin was befriended by a white teacher whom his father disapproved of. Later he worked in New Jersey and was often turned down in segregated places—Baldwin recalls a time he hurled a cup half full of water at a waitress in a diner only to realize his actions could have dire consequences.[5] He goes on to say that blacks participating in military service in the South often got abused. Finally, he recounts his father's death which occurred just before his mother gave birth to one of his sisters; his father's funeral was on his 19th birthday, the same day as the Harlem riot of 1943.
