
BIOGRAPHY
CLR James, born in Trinidad in 1901, is well known as a historian, journalist and politician. He was educated at Queen's Royal College, Port-au-Spain, where he also taught before leaving for England in 1932. During the thirties, together with George Padmore, Jona Kenyatta and others, Mr. James formed the International African Bureau and began a campaign for the emancipation of Africa and all the colonies, at a time when African Independence was considered a dream. They wrote, published, lectured, agitated and propagandised until the yoke of Colonialism was broken. In 1938, Mr. James wrote the Black Jacobins, a history of the Haitian Revolution which has been described as a masterpiece of political analysis. His analysis of the Afro-American struggle is considered by many as the only document of its kind. Mr. James has travelled widely and has written several books, pamphlets and articles on diverse subjects such as the revolution, politics, art, cricket, and literature. He is currently working on a book on the life of George Padmore.
Formerly Southern Field Director of the Medical Committee for Human Rights in Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Poussaint is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Tufts University Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. In a scholarly paper presented in May 1967 before the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Detroit, Dr. Poussaint analyzed the relationship between the "White Problem" and "Black Power" (1964-65): "While most black leaders readily admitted there were some 'good and effective' Caucasian workers who did not present serious problems, they felt the expulsion of all whites was the only way to avoid the risk of the inclusion of 'so many bad ones'. By the summer of 1965 rank-and-file Negroes began to apply pressure on their organizations to be more militantly black. The singing of black and white together of we shall overcome changed into a cry for Black Power to overcome racism and white supremacy in American life."
ROBERT HILL was born in Jamaica and received his university education in England and Canada, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1966. During his stay in Canada he founded together with others the West Indian Conference Committee which held the first Conference on West Indian Affairs in 1965. A deep student of colonial history and mass political movements, Mr. Hill is engaged in a study of the Garvey Movement. In a recent article he says: "Garvey helped to create a movement that expresses itself today out in the open of American society...The Negro has ceased to be treated as a special problem. He is now the American...Black Power is the black problem community's answer to decades of defenselessness. I believe that this possibility was inaugurated by the Garvey Movement." Mr. Hill is currently at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
René Déepestre est née en Haiti le 29 aoûut 1926. En 1946 la sociéetée haitienne traverse une crise grave. Renée Déepestre a 20 ans alors. Par son enthousiasme et sa fougue réevolutionnaire, il se place en têete des movements de jeunesse de l'éepoque. Peu apres, il quitte Haiti pour continuer ses éetudes en Europe et il voit son voyage d'éetudes se transformer en exil jusqu'en 1958, annéee oùu il rentre en Haiti. Son séejour dans son pays natal n'est que de courte duréee car en 1959 il doit reprendre le chemin de l'exil. Animateur de PRESENCE AFRICAINE pendant un temps, Renée Déepestre a publiée une oeuvre poéetique remarquable. Ses principales oevres sont ETENCELLES, GERBES DE SANG, MINERAI NOIR, REQUIEM POUR UN OCCIDENT CHRETIEN, JOURNAL D'UN ANIMAL MARIN. Au Congrèes Culturel de la Havane en Octobre 67, Renée fait une importante communication sur "Les Aventures de la néegritude".
Richard Moore, born in Barbados, is a member of that group of West Indians who have sought to find the
roots of their African heritage, to recreate Ancient African Civilization, and to propagandise the contribution of Africans and people of African descent to the development of contemporary civilization- A deep student of African and Afro-American history, Mr. Moore through his book The Name "Negro," Its Origins and Evil Use, his record "Africa Lost and Found," and an unceasing campaign has contributed much towards the increasing awareness of people of African descent to their history and development. Mr. Moore has been a member of various Afro-American and West Indian organizations concerned with the emancipation of black people. In 1938 he played a significant-part in founding the Barbados Labour Party. Mr. Moore's lifework can be found in the Richard B. Moore Collection at the University of the West Indies, Barbados, Jamaica.
Leroi Jones was born in 1934 in New Jersey. He graduated from high school in Newark, and from Howard University when he was nineteen years old. In 1961 he received a John Hag Whiting Fellowship which helped him to continue his writing. Brother Leroi has become known as one of the most talented and versatile young American writers. He has published a volume of poetry, the Preface to a 20- volume suicide note, and two plays, Dutchman and The Slave, the former receiving an "Obie" award in 1963-64 for the best off-Broadway production.
Rocky was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, fourth in a family of ten. He has spoken extensively in Canada on
the necessity of our brothers and sisters organizing to fight racism in Canada, to identify with the struggle in the United States, and with the struggle in the third world. In the face of heavy criticism and opposition form the white controlled religious institutions in Nova Scotia, he has continued to fight to keep alive the flames of change and the hope of liberation.
Stokely Carmichael needs little introduction. He was born in Trinidad and grew up both in Trinidad and New York City. In 1964 he received a bachelor's degree from Howard University, and while at Howard he was active in student government and the Non-violent Action Group. Mr. Carmichael has worked with SNCC almost since its inception in 1960 Before his election as chairman of SNCC in May 1966
he helped organize the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama. The slogan "Black Power" was first put forward by Mr. Carmichael, and in the book Black Power--the Politics of Liberation in America he outlines what Black Power means in the context of American politics. He has travelled widely through Europe, Asia, and Africa. Last year Mr. Carmichael was banned from entering his place of birth, Trinidad, by the government in power. He is now active in ghetto organizing in Washington, D.C.
Eldridge Cleaver is an Afro-American who was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1935. He was educated in the Negro ghetto of Los Angeles and at the California state prisons. Chairman of the Black House Council and minister of information for the Black Panther Party, Mr. Cleaver describes himself as a "full-time revolutionary in the struggle for Black Liberation in America." He is a staff writer for Ramparts and has contributed to many magazines and journals. The temper of his major literary work "Soul on Ice" is the temper of the Afro-American people his fears are their fears; his aspiration, their aspirations. As an Arfo-American he says: "We shall have our manhood. We shall have it-or the earth will be levelled by our attempts to gain it." He is at present working on a new book about the future direction of the Black Liberation Movement.
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