Baldwin held off despair by choosing life during the country’s worst moral moments

Evidence

In one of his darkest hours, living through one of the more shameful moments in the country’s history, Baldwin found the resources to begin again. He held off despair and chose life. In that 1970 Ebony interview, the reporter asked him, “What then, about hope?” Baldwin’s response is instructive for us as we live through another shameful period in the life of the nation: “Hope is invented every day.” — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 441

Categorization

• CANDY: ‘Hope is invented every day’ is a compact, tweetable Baldwin line that lands without context and encapsulates the chapter’s whole emotional arc.
• DEEPTHINKING: This pairing of ‘held off despair and chose life’ with ‘hope is invented every day’ makes hope a deliberate daily act rather than a feeling — dense enough to sit with.