Please join the Herbert Lehman Center for American History and the Institute for Research in African-American Studies for a discussion with Brian Kwoba (University of Memphis) of his biography of Hubert H. Harrison, a long-forgotten founder of Black radical thought. The conversation will be moderated by Brent Hayes Edwards.
The significance of Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927)—as a journalist, activist, and educator—lies in his innovation of radical solutions to radical injustices. He did far more than cultivate the rich, dark soil in which the so-called “Harlem Renaissance” would take root. Harrison also played a pivotal role in the rise of Marcus Garvey and the emergence of the largest international organization of African people in modern history. Because of his fearless radicalism, however, he has been erased from popular memory. Brian Kwoba's biography draws deeply on his research in the Hubert Harrison Papers, which are held at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
“Brian Kwoba has written a beautiful, intellectual biography as radical and original as its subject. He excavates Hubert H. Harrison—brilliant Marxist, Black nationalist, internationalist, and gender rebel—revealing dimensions even his most scrupulous chroniclers missed.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
