Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in “My Dungeon Shook” 1 or “The Instructional Manual for Black People”

: This review provides an analysis of the great social, cultural, political, intellectual and even anthropological contribution about race relations made by James Baldwin through the first essay of The Fire Next Time . Thanks to this valuable, thoughtful and meaningful contribution about race relations between the white people and the black people, James Baldwin can be characterized here as both a transhistorical and transnational writer, thinker and truthteller. Because his realistic good social, cultural, political, intellectual and even anthropological contribution about race relations in the United States goes beyond the developing issues at the time of writing (the historical context of the essay production, the period of the essay production and the borders of the United States) to become a real transhistorical contribution (meaning is out of historical context and historical period) and a real transnational contribution (meaning is out of the borders of the country mentioned). This retrospective on his essay and its re-evaluation shed light on the visionary quality of the writer and also explore the prophetical quality of his contribution. Due to its realistic message and its effectiveness and visionary qualities, the essay “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” may serve as a model-paradigm that can be utilized as an “Instructional Manual” by black people to deal with and to handle white people. And namely, it can serve as precisely “The Instructional Manual For Black People” to deal with and “to handle white people” in terms of useful instructions, guidelines and principles for the sake of the black race.


INTRODUCTION
James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time is divided into two important essays about race relations in American history, and especially about black people and white people race relations in America. Subtitled "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation", the first essay is an essay in which Baldwin uses the literary creation and rhetoric of a "Letter" (meaning something confidential / private) to address himself to his nephew (the coming generation) about some realities linked to their 2 existence and life in the United States. Dealing with the Negro problem or the fact of being a Negro in America, this essay is fundamentally a plea to his young nephew to transcend already simmering anger and adopt a broader perhaps even compassionate perspective toward life difficulties. That is why he shares with him his own perception, experience, and final conception (knowledge) about blacks and whites race relations in America. It is therefore such a kind of antidote to be alive in the white society, or in a society dominated and structured by white people as it is the case in America.
Indeed, this letter-essay focuses on African Americans concerns in America in general, and the realistic, thoughtful, prophetical and visionary qualities of its message render it (the content of this letter) a real transhistorical and transnational truth sayings. Of course, the content of this letter-essay becomes transhistorical and transnational when it transcends historical bounds, extending or going beyond national boundaries because it conveys some fundamental, existential and important messages, doctrines, principles about race relations between white people and black people which are still actual, topical, and real.
Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 849 (My Lord) [applause], the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. (Yes, yes) And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. 7 The historical context permitted by the evocation of the Emancipation therefore permits the use of historicism which is a critical way of using historical contexts to interpret texts, because "Historicism (or 'historism' in this translation of Currius' Historismus) is a critical movement insisting on the prime importance of historical context to the interpretation of texts of all kinds" 8 . Historicism can be seen as an analytical instrument that brings together literary interpretation and historical explanation.
Sociocriticism is important here because it is related to the characteristics of blacks and whites relationships or race relations in the same society (how white people interact with black people) through history since long time till today. So one can notice through the continuity in blacks and whites relationships or race relations that sociocriticism and historicism work together to help us better comprehend the sense and meaning of the Letter addressed to his nephew about blacks and whites race relations.
Sociocriticism is also important through the instructions, guidelines and principles of this Letter which should or must be known, followed and performed by black people in the society and in their relationships with white people. It is as well important thanks to the topicality of the content (message, lessons, advice) of the letter-essay due to today's blacks and whites relationships in the American society and in the world. The notion of actual or topicality resides in the title of the essay because of the expression "My Dungeon Shook" for it "shook" because the sender of the letter realized that it is the same reality since long time. It is a state of mind when you realize a stark reality or when you make up your mind about something you didn't realize at first.
Based on the hermeneutics approach, meaning the critical interpretation and analysis of the essay "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation"; the larger project of this review will dwell on those three important questions above which are specifically to know the need for "The Instructional Manual", to know the guidelines 9 composing "The Instructional Manual", and to know the topicality of "The Instructional Manual For Black People". Those three aspects will constitute the blueprint of our analysis.

THE NEED FOR "THE INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL"
The fundamental need for "The Instructional Manual" is embedded in the role played by "The Negro Mother" in the poem of the same title by Langston Hughes, a role that puts together the need for "The Instructional Manual" and justifies that need or important need.
Indeed, in this poem, one sees clearly the role and duty for the older generation to instruct, inform and guide the younger generations on what life looks like-precisely and particularly in the African tradition and custom; and to this end, the beginning verses of the poem The Negro Mother explain and justify this role so clearly that we cannot re-explain the fundamental semantic meaning linked to this role again.
Thanks to the Oral Tradition in Africa where knowledge is shared from generation to generation, and also thanks to the tradition, custom and culture in which there is the compulsory duty for the older generations to transmit beliefs, ideas, cultural materials, value, information, memories and other knowledge to younger and new generations. We can globally retain that "The Instructional Manual" is of important need so that "the race might live and grow" and without this "Instructional Manual" which in fact follows the pattern of the African traditional education and sharing of experiences and beliefs from generation to generation, the race and namely the black race cannot "live and grow". V 1 Children, I come back today V 2 To tell you a story of the long dark way V 3 That I had to climb, that I had to know V 4 In order that the race might live and grow. 10 One may observe through those verses above that the fact to "live and grow" 11 is so fundamental and necessary for the black people that "The Instructional Manual" becomes a useful reference book of instructions, guidelines and principles for the black race to know, to learn, to follow and to practice in terms of contents (message) and guidelines and in terms of race relations between them and the white race.
Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 850 As given explicitly by Langston Hughes here in this poem entitled The Negro Mother or simply, as said explicitly by "The Negro Mother" herself (a Negro Mother who is responsible of the destiny of the Negro Race so that the Negro Race "might live and grow"); "The Instructional Manual" becomes also a necessity or a need for James Baldwin so that his Nephew James "might live and grow". That is why he says: "I tell you this because I love you, and please don't you ever forget it" 12 … "--but I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them, for most of them do not yet really know that you exist." 13 In clear, one can argue that the relationship between "The Instructional Manual", its writer who is James Baldwin and his Nephew James is the same relationship that we have between "a story of the long dark way", its teller who is "The Negro Mother" and her Children (meaning the black children she is talking to). So those three entities are intrinsically linked, on the one hand we have James Baldwin, "The Instructional Manual", and his Nephew James and on the other hand, we have "The Negro Mother", "a story of the long dark way", and her Children. And the intrinsic relationship that one has between those three entities may lead to the following scheme about the message, the sender of the message and the receiver: The message The sender The receiver "a story of the long dark way" The Negro Mother Children/ Black Children "Letter" James Baldwin his Nephew James "The Instructional Manual" James Baldwin his Nephew James/Black People "Knowledge"/ "Truth" old generation new and young generation This clear cut correspondence and this link between those three elements at each level (namely as far as James Baldwin is concerned and as far as "The Negro Mother" is concerned) are so fundamental that this quotation 14 , through the main reason it promotes which is "In order that the race might live and grow"; is a good one and suitable to clarify and show the fundamental need for "The Instructional Manual For Black People" or the necessity of "The Instructional Manual For Black People".
Through the meaning of this quotation (the four verses), one notices that "The Negro Mother" here as an elder has the duty and role, may it be the moral duty or the racial duty or the anthropological duty or the cultural and traditional duty; she has the duty to tell, to teach, to inform the children (The Negro Children) about "a story of the long dark way / In order that the race might live and grow". And this important responsibility takes the shape of something done from generation to generation, from elder to younger, from mother to children as it has always been done in the African traditional concept and way of life.
When referring to this statement: "I tell you this because I love you, and please don't you ever forget it" 15 … "but I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them, for most of them do not yet really know that you exist." 16 One can say that James Baldwin also and here as the uncle (so the elder) has the duty and role, may it be the moral duty or the racial duty or the anthropological duty or the cultural and traditional duty; he has the duty to tell, to teach, to inform his Nephew James (the son of his dead brother) about "The Instructional Manual" or "Letter" 17 considered metaphorically also as "a story of the long dark way" in order that his Nephew James (his nephew and namesake) "might live and grow". And this important responsibility takes the shape also of something done from generation to generation, from elder to younger, from uncle to nephew as it has always been done in African traditional concept and way of life.
These major characteristics implying racial relationships or familial relationships, sharing of knowledge, information and teaching process from "The Negro Mother" to the Children about "a story of the long dark way" or from the Uncle (James Baldwin) to the Nephew (James) about "The Instructional Manual" can be clarified by the following schemes of correspondences and equivalences: The Negro Mother → The Uncle (James Baldwin) Children → Nephew (James) A story of the long dark way → The Instructional Manual  Going back to the text itself as far as the "Letter" is concerned, one may observe that the statement of Uncle James (James Baldwin): "I tell you this because I love you, and please don't you ever forget it" 18 … "--but I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them, for most of them do not yet really know that you exist" 19 in the choice of the words is very meaningful and of great importance because of the rhetoric he uses.
Indeed, another major and important aspect of the need for "The Instructional Manual" is that through the same statement of Uncle James, one observes that the function and role of "The Instructional Manual" is clearly stated through the expression "to tell you something about how to handle them" and namely through the meaningful expression "how to handle them". Therefore it means that one should have the "Instructional Manual" to know, to learn, to follow, and to practice something about "how to handle them". It means also in terms of connotation that the role and function of the "Instructional Manual" is to show to the nephew (and at a larger scale to show to the black people) "how to handle them". It means also metaphorically speaking that the title of the "Instructional Manual" may clearly be "how to handle them". And if the title of the "Instructional Manual" is metaphorically "how to handle them", it means that the different instructions, guidelines and principles will help the nephew (and at a larger sphere will help the black people) to really "handle them". In a word, the "Instructional Manual" is really a clue with the metaphorical title: "How To Handle Them".
Pragmatically speaking, the fundamental utility and the fundamental need for "The Instructional Manual For Black People" is to preserve the black race, to permit the black race to "live and grow", and to permit the black race "to handle them 20 ". And in this essay, the addressee who is the nephew James is indeed the microcosm of the Negro race while the real audience or addressee which is the macrocosm is the black race or the Negro race itself. It is like the figure of speech of metonymy in which James represents the black race and the black race is represented by James.
In conclusion, the Negro race or the black people need this "Instructional Manual" to live and grow, to handle the white race and to better manage or handle race relations between them and the white race that is why this "Instructional Manual" becomes therefore a necessity, a need. Because it is a useful and necessary reference book of instructions, guidelines, and principles entitled "How To Handle Them" for the black people if they think they must or they should "live and grow".
The duty of preservation of the race through the meaningful expression "How To Handle Them" concerns the older generation and it becomes therefore a responsibility that the older generation should not avoid and cannot avoid because it is like something which strikes them, something "Which binds [them] like a heavy iron chain." 21 That is why after several attempts to write this letter, James ended up by writing it: "Dear James: I have begun this letter five times and torn it up five times." 22 The other reason why James finally decided to write this letter is that he loves his nephew and thanks to his love for his nephew and his duty of preservation of the race he decided to write this "Letter" which is a real "Instructional Manual" so that his nephew can better deal with race relations between him and white people in the United States: "but I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them" 23 So both Love and the consciousness of the race preservation and growth seem to be the alone heritage or the alone African heritage the older generation can leave to the new generation. Moreover, this notion of Love and this instinct of preservation are so sacred and secret that they need confidentiality about the truth (knowledge, information, message, instructions, guidelines, principles, lessons, advice, etc.) to be shared through the "story of the long dark way" … "in order that the race might live and grow"; or again, about the truth (knowledge, information, message, instructions, guidelines, principles, lessons, advice, etc.) to be shared through the "Letter"/ "The Instructional Manual" about "how to handle them".
And due to the fact that those "story" and instructions, guidelines, and principles should be preserved, the author or the storyteller (James Baldwin) uses the paradigm of a letter here to convey the symbolic sense of confidentially because a letter is Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 852 confidential. That is why the confidentiality of this "Instructional Manual For Black People" in order to "live and grow" is imbedded in the title of the essay which is: "Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation". James being by means of metonymy the microcosm of the black race and also the new or younger generation, the confidentiality James 24 shares with James 25 is the same confidentiality James shares with the whole black people because by the act of writing this "Instructional Manual" and by playing the role of the statesman of the whole black race as writer, he (James Baldwin) addresses himself to only the black race. 26 In fact, one of the reasons why James Baldwin writes or "tells" to his nephew this "Instructional Manual" is simple: "I tell you this because I love you" 27 Of course "love" for his nephew and by means of metonymy, "love" for his race is one of the fundamental reasons why James tells the "story of the long dark way" to his nephew. And both his love and his story or his letter will help the race to live and grow, both his love and his story or his letter will help his nephew to live and grow. That is why it is very important to never forget "The Instructional Manual" if the nephew or the black race wants to live and grow: "I tell you this because I love you, and please don't you ever forget it." 28 Being something of great importance, being "something about how to handle them", a reference book for the nephew and for the black people which they should never forget, it is very useful to know, to learn and to follow the different instructions, guidelines and principles composing "The Instructional Manual For Black People" by responding to the question: what are the different guidelines 29 composing "The Instructional Manual"? Of course due to the need for "The Instructional Manual", it is important to know or identify the different instructions, guidelines and principles, their suitability and their relevance.

THE GUIDELINES 30 COMPOSING "THE INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL"
"The Instructional Manual" that we can also entitle metaphorically speaking "How To Handle Them" because its function or role is "to tell something about how to handle them" 31 ; is in reality considered as a useful and necessary reference book in which we are supposed to have fundamental instructions, guidelines and principles which are useful for black people to "live and grow".
In the analysis before this one, it has been question of the need for "The Instructional Manual" and for this concern, it has been said that there is a need and a real need for "The Instructional Manual" because the black race must "live and grow", because the black race should "live and grow". But it has also been said that there is a need and a real need for "The Instructional Manual" because black people should know "something about how to handle them", because black people must know "something about how to handle them", with "them" representing the white race or the white people.
As far as this part is concerned, two major and important logic questions linked to the need for "The Instructional Manual" and to the reasons of this need ("live and grow" and "how to handle them") are why the black race should / must "live and grow" and why the black people should / must know "how to handle them". Those two important questions are of great importance because they oblige us in the process to make an incursion into some historical contexts to better comprehend their suitability and relevance.
Indeed, it should be known that historically speaking white people supremacy, hegemony and racism toward black people had conditioned and constructed any kind of relationships between the two races or the two groups of people. There was an atmosphere of white supremacy versus black inferiority and white people "have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men." 32 The White writer has invented and perpetuated a stereotype of the African which depicted him as "physically unattractive, intellectually incompetent and spiritually degraded. Africans, according to the Whites are barbarians, born slaves, great singers, loyal servants, hard workers and true Christians. Only very low and inferior roles are assigned to the Blacks. The African is considered to be a conglomeration of mere arms and limbs, bones and eyes and as meaningless as his forests, rivers and silence. 33 24 James Baldwin 25 29 By the only word "guidelines" in this question we mean the set: "the instructions, guidelines and principles." 30 By the only word "guidelines" in this title we mean the set: "the instructions, guidelines and principles." 31 "I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them" 32  Such ideas of "a worthless human being" 34 and of "an inferior black man" surrounding this quotation were unfortunately the main atmosphere (environment) which characterizes the relationships and all the relationships between black people and white people or the race relations between them. So in clear terms, the context was a context of denial and nihilism of Africans and African Americans' status as human beings. And in our context, as far as this "Letter" is concerned with regard to its title, we can admit that it had been the same situation, context, and environment for almost one hundred years meaning at the time of writing this letter in December 1, 1962 despite the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1, 1863. That is why the full title of this essay "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" is so meaningful through the expression "on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" and also through the expression "the Emancipation Proclamation " because due to their culture of hegemony, supremacy, and racism, white people have always got bad relationships with other groups of people and namely with black people who they consider as inferior to them.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." … As a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom. 35 Since the beginning with the practice of slavery, black people have always got dramatic and traumatic experiences in their relationships with white people. Being used to and being indoctrinated into this culture of racism, hegemony and supremacy, white people will live the contradiction of the Emancipation Proclamation 36 and this till "the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation". It is in this respect that the full title of the letter is so meaningful but also the context of writing and the time of writing this letter are also important and meaningful. James Baldwin wrote this letter "on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" as a landmark to say that this is now one hundred (100) years that black people live the same situation, this is now one century (100 years) that black people live the aftermaths of slavery, this is now five scores years (100 years) that black people are not really free. Because simply black people are free in document and words which are symbolized by "the Emancipation Proclamation" document itself but not in reality, not in the real life for they still live and experience other forms of slavery and the aftermaths of slavery itself.
That is why this "Letter", the publication of this "Letter", the truth of this "Letter", the content of this "Letter", the sense of this "Letter", the sense of the title of this "Letter", and the testimony in this "Letter"; all these are of great interest as symbols and are corroborated by what happened in August 1963 at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (August 28, 1963) with the memorable Address delivered by Martin Luther King entitled "I HAVE A DREAM" in Washington, D.C.. It means simply that this "Letter" in its content and message is symbolically a truth and a real testimony.
Indeed, in this iconic speech at the Lincoln Memorial for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Martin Luther King urged America to "make real the promises of democracy." I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
[applause] Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves  In view of this long experience of bad relationships with white people, in view of this long experience under the hegemony, supremacy and racism of white people, in view of these contradictions between the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the realities of Racism, Discrimination, Segregation, withering supremacy, white hegemony, injustice, abuse etc. all the time until in 1962-1963, James Baldwin will write a precious "Letter to his Nephew" and by the process of metonymy to all black people in order "to tell them something about how to handle white people".
Indeed, since the first contact with black people, white scholars formulated collective behavior and related theories to explain white people hegemony, superiority and supremacy over black people all around the world. These theories argued that black people were inferior to white men and worthless human beings. Resource mobilization and political process theories reconceptualized those stereotypes and sought to ameliorate race relations between white people and black people but unfortunately, the so cast stereotypes along history are stubborn. That is why this so called "Instructional Manual For Black People" will be for utility and will play a key role in generating this paradigmatic shift in blacks' relations with white people because of its rich empirical base that led scholars and readers to rethink social, political, economic, intellectual, even anthropological race relations between black people and white people.
So in conclusion, this black contribution by James Baldwin which is this "Letter" and which represents "The Instructional Manual For Black People" to "handle white people" is really of precious need and necessary to rethink social, political, economic, intellectual, even anthropological race relations between black people and white people.
With regard to this letter, it incorporates in itself (in its content) several instructions, guidelines and principles about "how to handle white people" but those ones are not "visible" or "perceptible" at first look. One should decode the encode message or content and decipher the meaning in order to discover the real instructions, guidelines and principles linked to the way to "handle white people". Due to the fact that the different instructions, guidelines and principles are not directly conveyed but incorporated into the meaning and the content of this letter through some codes, one should practice the technique of hermeneutics 38 . One should therefore apply a critical interpretation to the content of this letter in order to detect, to know, to make out the different instructions, guidelines and principles composing "The Instructional Manual For Black People" which may also be metaphorically entitled "How To Handle Them".
Considered as a useful and necessary reference book of instructions, guidelines and principles, we observe that around nine (9) fundamental guidelines, instructions and principles 39 compose "The Instructional Manual" that James Baldwin gives to his nephew 40 (or to the Negro people or furthermore to the black race) about race relations between white people and black people. And even though those instructions, guidelines and principles or to better say "truths" about race relations between white people and black people may be considered as not true by the "innocents" as James Baldwin himself made it clear when saying "I hear the chorus of the innocents 41 screaming, "No! This is not true! How bitter you are!"" 42 We realize that it is still "The Instructional Manual 37 https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom. Visited on January 4, 2021. 38 Hermeneutics (/ˌhɜːrməˈnjuːtɪks/) is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. 39 on the basis of the précis of the different advices and lessons given by James Baldwin to Big James (his nephew) in this short essay 40 Under the format of a letter. 41 To refer to white people in this sentence: "But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent." P. 5-6. For Black People" to deal with race relations and white people because Baldwin insists on this fact by saying "I hear the chorus of the innocents 43 screaming, "No! This is not true! How bitter you are!""-but I am writing this letter to you, to try to tell you something about how to handle them" 44 . In fact, it is still "The Instructional Manual" because it is "something about how to handle them" and in this context of experiences and life memories, it may be considered as the conclusion, the précis of the "story of a long dark way" about one hundred years of race relations and also the précis of his own life experience as well as the précis of the life experience of the whole black community. For more insight into this conviction, we can refer to this assertion when saying:

Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My
How could he know such things about poverty and pain if he had not experienced them? Can a poet be that accomplished a liar? Can a poet invent history so well that his audience is completely fooled? Only if they want to be fooled … each great book was the Holy Bible, and each great author was a prophet. 45 Let us therefore decipher, decode and make out the different instructions, guidelines and principles composing "The Instructional Manual for Black People" to "handle white people" from the content, message and meaning of the "Letter to his Nephew": Guideline 1-Principle Original context of production: Well, you were born, here you came, something like fifteen years ago; and though your father and mother and grandmother, looking about the streets through which they were carrying you, staring at the walls into which they brought you, had every reason to be heavyhearted, yet they were not. For here you were, Big James, named for me-you were a big baby, I was not-here you were: to be loved. To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world. Remember that: I know how black it looks today, for you. It looked bad that day, too, yes, we were trembling. We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other none of us would have survived. And now you must survive because we love you, and for the sake of your children and your children's children. 49 Concept directed or derived: Promotion of difficult but necessary Love among and between black people for the only weapon, the only antidote that black people can have against white people's racism, hatred and destruction is love. Black people must and should love themselves to be united and to protect their lives; there is a necessity of love between black people and among black people to be a whole against the white man project of destruction of black lives and black humanity. Only love because love combats destruction and black destruction by white people. With Love black people can protect themselves each other. Through love black people can achieve great goals. If black people don't love themselves and each other white people will always attain their goals. Truth, prophetical or proverb characteristic and explanation in the letter (by the text itself): "To be loved, baby, hard, at once, and forever, to strengthen you against the loveless world. Remember that: I know how black it looks today, for you." Guideline 5-Principle 5-Instruction 5: -You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. (p.7) Original context of production: This innocent country set you down in a ghetto in which, in fact, it intended that you should perish. Let me spell out precisely what I mean by that, for the heart of the matter is here, and the root of my dispute with my country. You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity. 50 Concept directed or derived: Racism and hatred and supremacy are the foundation of white people existence and are the characteristics of white people humanity and self for without racism and hatred they are nothing and they become holy persons. As an example one can refer to the recent interview of Toni Morrison's about white people racism in "Toni Morrison on White Supremacy" 51 when saying: Don't you understand that the people who do this thing, who practice racism are bereft. There is something distorted about the psyche. It's a huge waste and it's a corruption and a distortion. It's like it's a profound neurosis that nobody examines for what it is, it feels crazy. It's crazy and it leaves it has as just as much deleterious effects on white people and possibly equal as it does to black people. I always knew that I had the moral high ground. All my life, I always thought those people who said I couldn't come in the drugstore and I had to sit in this funny places, I couldn't go in the park. And I thought that they knew, that I knew, that they were inferior to me morally. I always thought that. And my parents always thought that. -You said your father was racist because he always felt he was superior. That's right. He always felt superior. And that was a form, you know of a defensive racism. But if the racist white person. I mean the person who is examining his consciousness and so on doesn't understand that he or she is also a race. It's constructed, it's also made and it also has some kind of serviceability. But when you take it away. I take your race away. Truth, prophetical or proverb characteristic and explanation in the letter (by the text itself): "You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity." Guideline 6-Principle 6- There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. 53 Concept directed or derived: Eurocentric view and Western Civilization view that favors it over non-western civilizations with ideological control, cultural control, scientific control, historical control, religious control, economic control, power control etc. focusing on European culture or history which implies the exclusion of a wider view of the world. This Eurocentric view is implicitly regarding European culture as pre-eminent with an apologetic stance towards European colonialism and other forms of imperialism with the exclusion of contradiction. As an example one can read how they (Europeans) have deliberately constructed the life and history of indigenous or native Americans to make us believe what they said in the past about native Americans in the book entitled AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE S 'HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. Identified as "A must-read for anyone interested in the truth behind this nation's founding" by VERONICA E. VELARDE TILLER, this book about the life of indigenous or Native Americans at the hands of European in America with their Eurocentric view supplemented by ideological control, cultural control, scientific control, historical control, etc.

Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My
Truth, prophetical or proverb characteristic and explanation in the letter (by the text itself): "There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you." Guideline 8-Principle 8-Instruction 8: You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. (p.8) Original context of production: The really terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know. To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger. In this case, the danger, in the minds of most white Americans, is the loss of their identity. Try to imagine how you would feel if you woke up one morning to find the sun shining and all the stars aflame. You would be frightened because it is out of the order of nature. 54 Concept directed or derived: black people should/must adopt humanism to avoid chaos, black people should be tolerant to avoid chaos, black people should pardon, black people should be humanists, it is an obligation, it is a must. In face of white people Racism, Black people should perform love and retaliate with love and wisdom. Black people should possess the courage to respond to white people racism with love. Black people must perform the superhuman power toward white people for they are desperate people. As an example one can or should read the poem entitled "The white House" by Claude McKay. Truth, prophetical or proverb characteristic and explanation in the letter (by the text itself): "They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know. To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.
In this case, the danger, in the minds of most white Americans, is the loss of their identity." Guideline 9-Principle 9-Instruction 9: If the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become. Any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one's sense of one's own reality. Well, the black man has functioned in the white man's world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar: and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations. You, don't be afraid. I said that it was intended that you should perish in the ghetto, perish by never being allowed to go behind the white man's definitions, by never being allowed to spell your proper name. You have, and many of us have, defeated this intention; and, by a terrible law, a terrible paradox, those innocents who believed that your imprisonment made them safe are losing their grasp of reality. But these men are your brothers -your lost, younger brothers. And if the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become. It will be hard, James, but you come from sturdy, peasant stock, men who picked cotton and dammed rivers and built railroads, and, in the teeth of 4 the most terrifying odds, achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity. You come from a long line of great poets, some of the greatest poets since Homer. One of them said, Truth, prophetical or proverb characteristic and explanation in the letter (by the text itself): "Any upheaval in the universe is terrifying because it so profoundly attacks one's sense of one's own reality. Well, the black man has functioned in the white man's world as a fixed star, as an immovable pillar: and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to their foundations. You, don't be afraid. I said that it was intended that you should perish in the ghetto, perish by never being allowed to go behind the white man's definitions, by never being allowed to spell your proper name. You have, and many of us have, defeated this intention; and, by a terrible law, a terrible paradox, those innocents who believed that your imprisonment made them safe are losing their grasp of reality." With reference to the critical interpretation above, one may observe that from the beginning to the end of this letter, there are nine (9) fundamental guidelines, principles and instructions. And for each fundamental guideline, principle and instruction, there is a concept which is directed to the meaning or there is a concept which derived from the meaning. And also for each fundamental guideline, principle and instruction, we have a portion of the text itself which explains or characterizes the part of truth, or the part of prophecy or the part of proverb associated with this fundamental guideline, principle and instruction. It is as if the given guideline, principle and instruction is justified by a part of the text or a portion of the text itself in order to show its veracity, its foretelling characteristic or its proverb characteristic.
Even though James Baldwin contextualizes (American society) and periodizes (his living time or until one hundred years) his guidelines, principles and instructions in the message of this "letter to his nephew" by saying: "And I know, which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them" 56 or by saying also and later "we can make America what America must become". It is very important to precise that those guidelines, principle and instructions (or metaphorically speaking those "truths" or those "prophecies" or those "proverbs" or those "truth sayings") composing "The Instructional Manual" are still topical and concern all the white people both inside and outside the United States. That is why they are still actual and need to be followed and practiced and also they are important to "never forget" as "cult member" for they transcend historical bounds and extend or go beyond national boundaries to be still topical as "The Instructional Manual For Black People" to be applied in the blacks and whites relationships or in race relations between the two races both by today's African-Americans and by today's African people. Indeed, when we consider a pragmatic reading of the essay, or when we consider a biblical reading of the essay or when we consider a visionary reading of the essay; we observe that it applies to any black people and this essay in its core message is considered as a prophetic message addressed to the black people in the world in general. And with regard to this concern, the following question is of great importance: how does "The Instructional Manual For Black People" through its guidelines, principles and instructions be still topical for black people?

THE INSTRUCTIONAL MANUAL AND ITS TOPICALITY FOR BLACK PEOPLE
It is very important to tackle this important aspect of James Baldwin's essay which is this part concerning the topicality of the "The Instructional Manual" because we need to reconsider the different guidelines, principles or instructions of this "The Instructional Manual" in today's life while revisiting and reevaluating this Letter in today's life because of these assertions giving evidence about or testifying the topicality of James Baldwin sayings 50 years later: "James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future-in a country with a terrible history of racism-first appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962. Over 50 years later his words are as powerful as ever." 57 And also as observed in this similar assertion of the same The Progressive magazine "James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future-in a country with a terrible history of racism-first appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962. Over 50 years later his words are, sadly, more relevant than ever." 58 We can therefore say that the topicality of the content of the essay or the topicality of "The Instructional Manual" is of great importance for this present moment because James Baldwin speaks prophetically about race and racism but also about race relations in the sense that black people should/must know "how to handle them(white people)" 59 . And the essay "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" in a metaphorical way is his lessons, his advice, his "truth sayings" for our own time in managing race relations and in dealing with white people.
Indeed, in this essay, James Baldwin is a kind of "truthteller", a kind of visionary writer who gives some "instructions" about race relations between white people and black people and on the national sphere today (meaning America), his words are more prescient than ever today as the country confronts mass protests over the latest killings of black men and women, most famously Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
EG: It's an evasion. People tend to think of race as a kind of bounded subject that can only be evidenced in moments of explicit discrimination or the loud screams of obvious bigots. It often happens that people want to ignore the ways race continues to overdetermine our lives in this moment, and how it has driven our political process, particularly since 2008 and the election of Barack Obama. The kind of deep racial anxieties that define our country as white, working people who feel that they've lost a step and the country doesn't reflect the country that they remember, that they're a part of, and they feel like they're being left behind. 60 The value of this Letter in terms of message, in terms of instructions, in terms of guidelines, and in terms of principles for this present moment is one of the things that one may think is so important for the validity of reevaluating this essay (and its nine (9) fundamental instructions, guidelines and principles constituting "The Instructional Manual") because James Baldwin is characterized by Eddie Glaude 61 as: EG: Jimmy's anger, his rage, his love, his generosity, his vulnerability, his insistence of his own individuality. He was fond of saying he had no antecedents. He, for me, represents this extraordinary black democratic perfectionism, this attempt to create a self in a world that denies that act. He does so not with the aspiration toward wholeness, If James Baldwin thinks that this letter is really necessary for his nephew one hundred years after the Emancipation, it means that there is a sort of continuity. If James Baldwin thinks that this letter is really important for his nephew, someone who will "live" after James himself, it means that his message and lessons are of actuality. If James thinks that this Letter and its instructions, guidelines, and principles are necessary to his nephew at this "present time" so that he can "handle white people", it means simply that James Baldwin is conscious that the situation has not changed since "his own lifetime" and it will still be the same after "his own death", meaning during his nephew lifetime: "You know and I know that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too early. We cannot be free until they are free. God bless you, James, and Godspeed." 68 James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future-in a country with a terrible history of racism-first appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962. Over 50 years later his words are as powerful as ever. James Baldwin's thoughts on his nephew's future-in a country with a terrible history of racism-first appeared in The Progressive magazine in 1962. Over 50 years later his words are, sadly, more relevant than ever. 69 In a word, if James Baldwin conceives that the future will be the same likewise the past, this conception reinforces the idea and notion of the topicality of "The Instructional Manual" because the situations occasioning this "Instructional Manual" are still ongoing or present even one hundred years later and symbolized by the idea and quotation above: "my long-suffering race".
The second idea about the topicality of "The Instructional Manual" of James Baldwin is imbedded in the fact that on the grammatical level, James Baldwin uses both the present perfect tense 70 and the present continuous tense 71 namely to recall and reinforce the idea and the fact that the destruction of the Negro people by white people still continues and still exists when saying: "they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it." And I know, which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen, and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed and are destroying hundreds of thousands of lives and do not know it and do not want to know it.
On the one hand, by using the present perfect tense, James Baldwin informs us that the destruction of the Negro people by white people started in the past and still continues in the present time but also he is talking about his life experience up to the present time of the publication of the Letter. On the other hand, by using the present continuous tense, James Baldwin remembers us that the destruction of the Negro people by white people is the activity at the moment of his speaking (the Letter 72 ) but also he uses the present continuous tense to foretell that the destruction of the Negro people by white people will be part of future plans or arrangements.
Generally speaking, the topicality of the bad situation justifies the need and topicality of the message of his essay meaning by the same way justifies the need and topicality of "The Instructional Manual" and its guidelines, principles and instructions or by the same way justifies the need and topicality of the essay itself when he says: "Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" because this part of the title of the essay is very meaningful.
Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" This consciousness of a situation which is the same since the past to his own lifetime to the future (meaning his nephew lifetime) justifies the topicality of "The Instructional Manual" in the sense that as well as these instructions will be useful to his nephew or are supposed to be useful to his nephew to "handle them" (white people) 73 "; those same instructions will be or may be useful to us (today's African Americans and today's Africans) to "handle them (white people) 74 " "in order that the race might live and grow". We need to live and we need to grow. This senseful ideal is really a deep metaphor encompassing many meanings at two levels (live and grow) but also hiding the essential idea that the white race will prevent us by any way to "live" and "grow". Of course, if this visionary writer had thought the instructions useful to his nephew and topical for his future lifetime, we can also say that "The Instructional Manual" in its core value is still topical for black people nowadays because the Negro problem is also still topical in our daily lives.
When we refer to the second idea of the topicality of "The Instructional Manual" we just mentioned, we observe a movement through the use of the two important tenses which are the present perfect tense and the present continuous tense and their combination. Indeed the combination at the same time of the present perfect tense and the present continuous tense gives us a movement of three steps: One: something happened and still happens (present perfect) Two: something happens and will still happen (present continuous) Then the combination of the present perfect tense and the present continuous tense (present perfect tense + the present continuous) at the same time gives: Three: something happened and still happens and will continue to happen or will still happen PAST → PRESENT → FUTURE THE NOTION OF CONTINUITY So in terms of topicality of "The Instructional Manual", when we study the different guidelines, principles and instructions under the light of this system of continuity or under the light of the trilogy: Past-Present-Future; we can admit when coming back to the nine (9) different guidelines 75  PAST It had been a sad reality and the history of the encounter between the two races is full of events about such destruction PRESENT It is a sad reality that we experience even today through wars and massacres, through imperialism and capitalism FUTURE It will be a necessity due to the demands of imperialism, capitalism and domination and due to the trend toward power and powerful army PRESENT Today the lack of love among the black community, among the black countries, and the black presidents is the source of their domination and massacre by white people because without true unity they are powerless FUTURE If black people don't love themselves or each other today and tomorrow, none of them will survive in the future Guideline 5-Principle 5-Instruction 5:-You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. (p.7) PAST Racism had destroyed the humanity of black people PRESENT Racism still destroys the humanity of black people FUTURE Racism will always destroy the humanity of black people because he is considered a worthless human being since the beginning, today and even tomorrow Guideline 6-Principle 6-Instruction 6: You have been told where you could go and what you could do (and how you could do it) and where you could live and whom you could marry. (pp.7-8)

PAST
Barriers, fences and social classes (master-porter) and human classification (white/black) had already structured and constrained the world PRESENT Today Barriers, fences and social classes (master-porter) and human classification (white/black) still structure, constrain and characterize the world and its opportunities and the bounties of the earth FUTURE Tomorrow and with an enforcement, Barriers, fences and social classes (master-porter) and human classification (white/black) will of course still structure, constrain and characterize the world and its opportunities, even food and life and the bounties of the earth Guideline 7 -Principle 7 -Instruction 7: The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what white people say about you. Please try to remember that what they believe, as well as what they do and cause you to endure, does not testify to your inferiority but to their inhumanity and fear. (p.8)

PAST
Since the past different Machiavelli plans have worked out till today to convince them that you are inferior even when being inhuman PRESENT Today everything work to perpetuate this duality (superior white-inferior black) and all the actions even the Machiavelli ones are useful in this purpose

FUTURE
The future will tell more in inhumanity or inhuman actions and Machiavelli ones than in the past despite the fact the world is more religious today Guideline 8-Principle 8-Instruction 8: You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. (p.8) PAST You had been oblige to accept them with love and pardon PRESENT Today you accept them and are accepting them with love and pardon FUTURE You will accept them and will accept them with love and pardon as usually Guideline 9-Principle 9-Instruction 9: If the word integration means anything, this is what it means: that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it. For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become. (p.10)

PAST
Since long time black people are trying to create a rainbow (multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor) world of peace through love and acceptance and equality and namely a multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor America PRESENT Even today black people are still trying to create a rainbow (multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor) world through love and acceptance and equality and namely a multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor America FUTURE Tomorrow black people will still dream (or have this dream) of a rainbow (multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor) world of peace through love and acceptance and equality and namely a multiethnic, multiracial, multicolor America 76 Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 865 It is frightening when we refer or take the history of black people and we realize that many events and actions of today's world and of today's blacks and whites relationships match with the "truth" in some of the guidelines, instructions and principles through this system of continuity or under the light of the trilogy Past-Present-Future of the table above; we realize the topicality but also the necessity of "The Instructional Manual For Black People".

CONCLUSION
Thanks to this thorough analysis of the first essay of The Fire Next Time, we observe that James Baldwin through his own life experience (but also through the collective experience of the whole Negro community 77 ) found the need and necessity to produce a written statement ("Letter") which is a good paradigm of an ethnic literature and through which formally and with an instructional tone, he tells the black people and namely his nephew "something about how to handle them (white people)." The exploration and interpretation of the message, content, advice and lessons of this essay, show that this "something about how to handle white people" is indeed a set of instructions, principles and guidelines that James Baldwin thinks necessary and useful for his nephew because he loves him: "I tell you this because I love you, and please don't you ever forget it" 78 .
In light of this, being a set of instructions, principles and guidelines intended to help his nephew and all the black people, therefore entitled metaphorically "The Instructional Manual For Black People" as the title of this paper states it clearly, the essay "My Dungeon Shook: Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation" is indeed a great racial didactic achievement on the part of James Baldwin.
First of all, this written statement ("Letter") or this "Instructional Manual For Black People" or again, this reference book that we can once again metaphorically entitle "how to handle them" was of great need and necessity for his nephew and all the black people in the sense that precisely and particularly in the African tradition and custom; the role and duty of the old black generation is to instruct, inform and guide the young black generations on what life looks like. And here "The Instructional Manual For Black People" is of great need and necessity "In order that the race might live and grow", that is the main good and suitable reason why black people need "The Instructional Manual". Put simply, we can globally retain that "The Instructional Manual" is of important need so that "the black race might live and grow" and without this "Instructional Manual" (which in fact follows the pattern of the African traditional education and sharing of experiences and beliefs from generation to generation), the black people cannot "live and grow".
Secondly, in this essay and precisely about the "something about how to handle them", we observe, decode, decipher and make out in précis nine (9) different fundamental instructions, guidelines and principles which compose "The Instructional Manual For Black People". So we have nine (9) fundamental instructions, guidelines and principles "to handle them (white people)". Those nine (9) fundamental guidelines, principles or instructions composing "The Instructional Manual For Black People" to "handle white people" are very relevant, senseful and are the summary of the perception, experience and final conception (knowledge) of James Baldwin about black people and white people race relations in America.
Being a kind of antidote to be alive in the white society, or in a society dominated, controlled and structured by white people, the topicality of his instructions, principles, guidelines or the topicality of his lessons and advice in the today's blacks and whites relationships or in the today's blacks and whites coexistence is really of special emphasis, importance and significance. .
When analyzing today's relationships between blacks and whites both in the USA and in the world, we observe that those nine (9) guidelines, principles and instructions are still topical, useful, necessary and actual for any black community or country to deal with white people and to know "how to handle them". In fact, those lessons and advice (incorporated in the nine (9) guidelines, principles and instructions) of "The Instructional Manual" transcend the historical bounds, and go beyond the national boundaries of the USA.
Those instructions encapsulated in the expression "to tell you something about how to handle them" being the result of his coexistence and life experience with the white community in the United States are so important and topical that we realize they go beyond the national boundaries and transcend the historical bounds. And these aspects justify why the content of the essay of James Baldwin is both transhistorical and transnational.
That is why this principal essay may therefore identify James Baldwin as a transhistorical and transnational writer, thinker, and "truthteller". Because characterized as "The Instructional Manual for Black People", it is a real reference book to deal with white people in general and it is striking and frightening when we realize today that those nine (9) guidelines, principles and instructions are still topical.
In light of this, Black people should revisit "The Instructional Manual" or revisit the whole essay in order to update or contextualize the different instructions, principles and guidelines given to them in a spirit of African American ethnic literature Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 866 because those instructions have been given to them "in order that the race must live and grow". They should also revisit "The Instructional Manual" because the today's blacks and whites coexistence (both in USA and in other parts of the world) seems to be like the past blacks and whites coexistence with little changes. And the big notion of love 79 in its largest sense: being humanist, being sensitive, think reciprocity of value and dignity, "A world where black or white, Whatever race you be, share the bounties of the earth" 80 ; is still problematic in today world generally speaking. Of course the topicality links to the transhistoricality and transnationality of this Letter's content and message through its different instructions, principles and guidelines is observable through the value of the main advice or main lesson in each guideline, principle, and instruction. It is therefore very important to reexamine, reanalyze and reconsider the different instructions, guideline, and principle given by James Baldwin to his nephew and by metonymy to all the black people. And in this concern, the death of George Floyd which shuttered the world both inside the USA and outside the USA with the Black Lives Matter Movement or Demonstration shows that the race problem James Baldwin is dealing with in this "Instructional Manual" is both transhistorical and transnational to the United States.
Transhistorical and Transnational James Baldwin in "My Dungeon Shook" 1 or "The Instructional Manual for Black People" IJSSHR, Volume 04 Issue 04 April 2021 www.ijsshr.in Page 867