The Evidence of Things Not Seen is a book-length essay by James Baldwin, published in 1985 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. The book covers the Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, often called the Atlanta child murders, and examines race relations and other social and cultural issues in Atlanta. Baldwin had ventured to Atlanta as a literary reporter on assignment for Playboy magazine, which had previously published many prominent black writers, such as Alex Haley and James Farmer. Walter Lowe, the magazine's first black editor, had proposed this assignment to Baldwin. The book's title draws from Hebrews 11:1.