James Baldwin wrote “Go Tell It on the Mountain”. The book is about a young teenager in Harlem, New York. In this respect, it’s a bit autobiographical. Baldwin grew up in Harlem, and makes use of that background. The book looks hard at the relationship between the main character - a teenager named John Grimes - and the Pentecostal Church. This church is often thought to be both a sign of oppression and a sign of hope in the lives of African-Americans in Harlem at the time.
The book references many other works of the time, and even the Bible. The most referenced story from the Bible is the story of Ham, one of Noah’s sons. Other biblical references include the story of parting the Red Sea and the story of Jacob in the wilderness.
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