Baldwin’s politicization followed the recognized failure of liberal reform and movement losses.

Evidence

But now he had gained the ire of those same people; those who, as he noted, “reproached me for my ingratitude.” His politics were changing, and his writing with it. He knew now that liberal reform was not enough to fundamentally change the country; Selma, Birmingham, and the murders of Medgar and Malcolm had made that clear. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 294

Categorization

• XREF: This is the biographical pivot that makes late Baldwin essential — the exact transition Glaude argues for recanonizing.