Baldwin–Buckley debate

The Baldwin–Buckley debate was a televised debate of The Cambridge Union Society held on 18 February 1965 in Cambridge, England, which has since come to be seen as one of the most historic and influential intellectual debates on race relations in America. James Baldwin, an influential African-American writer and activist, and William F. Buckley, a leading conservative intellectual, debated the motion "The American dream is at the expense of the American Negro." The proposition, led by Baldwin, won by a landslide majority of 380, with the "Ayes" receiving 544 votes to the "Noes" 164. The debate came at a time of significant social change, with the Voting Rights Act being passed just months later in the US. Broadcast at the time live on the BBC, it was later rebroadcast on stations across America. In the years since several books and dramatic reproductions, along with countless articles, both academic and media, have been produced about the debate and its impact.

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