About this item

An unflinching look at nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies In an accessible conversational format Cornel West with distinguished scholar Christa Buschendorf provides a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders Frederick Douglass W E B Du Bois Martin Luther King Jr Ella Baker Malcolm X and Ida B Wells In dialogue with Buschendorf West examines the impact of these men and women on their own eras and across the decades He not only rediscovers the integrity and commitment within these passionate advocates but also their fault lines West in these illuminating conversations with the German scholar and thinker Christa Buschendorf describes Douglass as a complex man who is both ldquothe towering Black freedom fighter of the nineteenth centuryrdquo and a product of his time who lost sight of the fight for civil rights after the emancipation He calls Du Bois ldquoundeniably the most important Black intellectual of the twentieth centuryrdquo and explores the more radical aspects of his thinking in order to understand his uncompromising critique of the United States which has been omitted from the American collective memory West argues that our selective memory has sanitized and even ldquoSantaclausifiedrdquo Martin Luther King Jr rendering him less radical and has marginalized Ella Baker who embodies the grassroots organizing of the civil rights movement The controversial Malcolm X who is often seen as a proponent of reverse racism hatred and violence has been demonized in a false opposition with King while the appeal of his rhetoric and sincerity to students has been sidelined Ida B Wells West argues shares Malcolm Xrsquos radical spirit and fearless speech but has ldquooften become the victim of public amnesiardquo By providing new insights that humanize all of these well-known figures in the engrossing dialogue with Buschendorf and in his insightful introduction and powerful closing essay Cornel West takes an important step in rekindling the Black prophetic fire so essential in the age of Obama.



About the Author

Cornel West

Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and obtained his MA and PhD in philosophy at Princeton. He has taught at Union Theological Seminary (where he has recently returned to teach) , Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Paris. He has written nineteen books and edited thirteen books. He is best known for his classic Race Matters, published by Beacon Press in 1993. His latest books are Black Prophetic Fire, which offers a fresh perspective on six revolutionary African American leaders (Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Ella Baker, Malcolm X, and Ida B. Wells) and The Radical King, a collection of MLK's writings curated and introduced by Prof. West to reclaim Dr. King's prophetic and radical vision as both a civil rights leader and - more broadly - as a human right activist. Both books were published by Beacon Press.

Cornel West appears frequently on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, CNN and C-SPAN, and he makes numerous appearances speaking to audiences large and small on subjects ranging from racial justice and queer rights to climate justice. Prof. West has appeared in over twenty-five documentaries and films, including Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk, and Stand. He has also made three spoken-word albums, including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One, and the late Gerald Levert. His recent spoken-word interludes were featured on Terence Blanchard's Choices (which won the Grand Prix in France for the best jazz album of the year for 2009) .

He has recently been deeply involved in the Black Lives Matter protests and was among those arrested in Ferguson in 2015. Cornel West has a passion to communicate in writings and orations, through music and film, and in solidarity with groups and faith communities committed to justice in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. - a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.

Photo credit Sigrid Estrada.



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