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Jeff Perry // Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism

Tuesday, 01 September 2009
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

In his recent work, Jeff perry chronicles the life of Hubert Harrison, (1883-1927) an immensely skilled writer, orator, educator, critic, and political activist who, more than any other political leader of his era, combined class consciousness and anti-white-supremacist race consciousness into a coherent political radicalism.  The St. Croix, Virgin Islands-born and Harlem-based Harrison profoundly influenced "New Negro" militants, including A. Phillip Randolph and Marcus Garvey, and his synthesis of class and race issues is a key unifying link between the two great trends of the Black Liberation Movement: the labor- and civil-rights-based work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the race and nationalist work associated with Malcolm X.

A self-described, "radical internationalist," he was also a highly praised journalist and critic (reportedly the first regular Black book reviewer), a postal labor unionist, a union organizer (with both the Hotel Workers and the Pullman Porters), an IWW supporter, a speaker at the 1913 Paterson strike, a freethinker and early proponent of birth control, a supporter of Black writers and artists, a leading community-based public intellectual, and a bibliophile who helped transform the 135th Street Public Library into an international center for research in Black culture (known today as the world-famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture).  His biography offers profound insights on race, class, religion, immigration, war, democracy, and social change in America. 

Join Red Emma's with author, Jeff Perry, for a unique event as he presents a fascinating slideshow based on his recent biography of Harrison.

Location:

URL: http://redemmas.org/event/1631