Staging James Baldwin and William F. Buckley: Belonging in Opera

Continuing WashU’s long-standing commitment to the performing arts, the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE²) presents a performance and roundtable discussion of The Tongue & The Lash, a chamber opera by Damien Sneed and Karen Chilton first commissioned and premiered by Opera Theatre of St. Louis in 2021. The opera imagines a private conversation between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr., following their historic 1965 Cambridge Union debate.

Since 2021, CRE²—alongside WashU’s Department of Music and Opera Theatre of St. Louis (OSTL)—has led a multi-year project examining how race and ethnicity have shaped opera’s past and continue to inform its future through scholarly discussion and performances by leading contemporary artists.

The Belonging in Opera exhibition features historical materials from the Olin, Gaylord, and St. Louis Public Libraries, offering context for this ongoing exploration and the spring performance of The Tongue & The Lash.

The James Baldwin Review—Justin A. Joyce and Kyle Proehl— organized this exhibition with research help from Matthew Johnson and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (Tila Neguse).

To commemorate the five-year anniversary of Belonging in Opera, OTSL, CRE², and WashU’s Department of Music will host a special schedule of activities in spring 2026. Please check back soon for more details on exhibition-related events.

Header Image Credit: Baldwin and Buckley debate at Cambridge Union, February 18, 1965