Berdis Baldwin (1903-1999) was a woman whose influence can be felt throughout American culture, but whose name you’ve probably never heard. As the mother of one of our country’s most singular voices, she helped guide and grow a creative genius.
Berdis Baldwin (1903-1999) was a woman whose influence can be felt throughout American culture, but whose name you’ve probably never heard. As the mother of one of our country’s most singular voices, she helped guide and grow a creative genius.
While motherhood can take many forms, to mother is to usher forth new generations through care, work and imagination. For the entire month of December, we’re celebrating mothers — including those who raised children who went on to lead the civil rights movement and school desegregation efforts, such as Alberta King and Louise Little, as well as mothers of movements like Lorena Borjas who started the Latinx trans movement. All of the women featured this month were dedicated to the survival of children in their work and to imagining better futures for the next generation.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Anna Malaika Tubbs, the author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK, Malcom X and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation. My work focuses on motherhood, through the lens of feminism, intersectionality, and inclusivity, and I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about mothers: women who ushered forth new generations and new futures through their care, work, and imagination.
Today, we’re talking about a woman whose influence can be felt throughout American culture, but whose name you’ve probably never heard. As the mother of one of our country’s most singular voices, she helped guide and grow a creative genius.
Let’s talk about Berdis Baldwin.
Emma Berdis Jones was born on Christmas Day, 1903, on Deal Island, off the coast of Maryland. She was the fifth living child of Leah Esther and Alfred Jones. Her arrival into the world was also marked by tragedy. Her mother, who had been sick for months, died during labor.
But Emma, who was known as Berdis, was embraced and protected by her remaining family.
Their home, Deal Island, was once called Devil’s Island. Some people claim it’s because the island used to be a meeting ground for pirates in the 1600s. It was tiny, and marshy, and Berdis found inspiration in the striking, gothic church and school building, which stood out against its surroundings. Berdis, too, stood out. She was brilliant, and loved writing and poetry. Sometimes she even performed her work for her family.
But as Berdis grew up, her dreams began to get bigger than her tiny hometown. So in the early 1920s, she left Deal Island and set out for the North, as part of the Great Migration.
The Great Migration began in the 1910s, as thousands of Black Americans fled the racial violence of the South. By the end of this period, in the 1970s, more than 6 million people had crossed the Mason-Dixon line in search of a better future.
Berdis’ first stop was in Philadelphia, where she stayed with a cousin. Then, she made her way to the Black cultural mecca… of New York City.
We don’t know much about the father of her first child, but Berdis gave birth to a little boy in 1924. From the start, she was a single mother. She worked nights cleaning an office building, so she could care for her son during the day. But life was hard, and Berdis struggled to make ends meet.
In 1927, when her son, James, was two years old, Berdis married an older man named David Baldwin. David was also from the South, from Louisiana. While his marriage with Berdis was loving at first, he was haunted by both personal, and worldly demons, and he often took that anger out on his stepson and his wife.
David was an evangelical preacher, and the family continued to barely eke by financially, especially as they grew. Berdis and David would go on to have eight children together.
But like she’d done years ago, Berdis’ children found a way out through education. Especially James, whom she often called Jimmy.
Berdis saw in Jimmy the same hunger for writing as she had, and she did everything she could to both protect him and raise him up – including putting herself between Jimmy and her husband, David’s, rage. The principal of Jimmy’s first school described Berdis as a mother “above all mothers” – noting that both Berdis and her son wrote like angels.
As the years wore on, David became even more cruel, and paranoid. In 1943, Berdis was pregnant with her ninth child, and exhausted from trying to get David to eat. She finally made the decision to have him committed. He was diagnosed with mental illness and tuberculosis. Berdis urged Jimmy to visit his stepfather one last time, so he wouldn’t be burdened with regret. And so he did.
Just a day later, on July 29th, David died. A few hours after that, Berdis gave birth to a baby girl. Jimmy named her Paula Marie.
Jimmy grew into the writer James Baldwin. With his literary success, he bought a house for his mother in 1966, fulfilling a long held promise. The house on West 71st was often filled with family, and laughter, and food, and joy. James would bring other famous writers over, to introduce to his mother – Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou. Berdis, it seemed, was making up for lost time. But the constant that had always been there, no matter how dire the circumstances, was her fierce love for her children.
For years, the living arrangements in the house on West 71st Street stayed the same. Berdis’ daughter, Paula Marie, on the first floor; another daughter, Gloria, on the third; and Berdis on the second, at the heart of the home, in the middle of it all. Today, Berdis’ house on West 71st Street is a national landmark.
Berdis passed away in 1999. A tribute written by one of her many grandchildren read, “Berdis’s song thundered against their beating hearts: LOVE ONE ANOTHER, LOVE ONE ANOTHER, TEACH YOUR FRIENDS TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. How we struggled to sing like our Berdis.”
All month, we’re talking about mothers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!