Homage to Dear Friend Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
On September 12, 2009 colleagues, students and family members gathered at Kirkpatrick Chapel on the Rutgers University campus for a Memorial Service honoring Ivan Van Sertima, the distinguished anthropologist, historian, linguist and author. William Loren Katz prepared these words about his colleague and friend of many years.
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Harry Belafonte Reaffirms a Proud Tradition
Harry Belafonte did more than speak truth to a President who lied to justify an invasion that has taken the lives of more than 2,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. He became part of a proud African American tradition Frederick Douglass started in 1848—opposition to a President who lies and sacrifices American lives in order to promote and justify wars of aggression.
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Paul Robeson, Spain and the Anti-Facist Crusade
By 1937 Paul Robeson had become world famous as a concert singer, stage and movie performer, and he was still under forty. That year fast-moving global events forced him to face what he called "a major turning point in my life" and make a decision that forever altered his life.
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Lucy Gonzales Parsons [1853-1942]
Lucy Gonzales Parsons was a powerful writer and speaker, a life-long crusader for justice, and strikingly beautiful, but her ideas, actions or likeness have not graced school texts or Hollywood movies. Lucy Parsons’ life, ideas and words have earned an honored place in history.
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Samori Marksman: A Recollection and Appreciation
It is so hard to believe that my friend Samori with his rich storehouse of rare knowledge, wry sense of humor, and warm tone, is gone. So enthusiastically alive, so dedicated to getting out the truth...Samori managed the kind of broad-based, information-laden radio that a Paul Robeson would have run if he had chosen radio.
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John Henrik Clarke: A Scholar for All Seasons
Though I had been reading his works for many years, my relationship with Dr. Clarke began back in the 1960s when he was editor of Freedomways, a liberation magazine I read and admired. John Henrik Clarke was a great teacher, a giant of our times and a scholar for all seasons. The world will miss his wisdom, generosity and his unfailing sense of humor.
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John Brown: A White Role Model
John Brown was a devout Christian who saw slavery as violence and whose favorite Biblical quote was "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." He swore his entire family to the anti-slavery struggle; led armed bands that rescued enslaved people, and was an active agent of the underground railroad.
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Paul Robeson at 100 Years
Young Robeson grew to be a majestic figure in the United States, beginning at Rutgers as an all-star athlete, then a singer and actor, and finally as an activist devoted to fighting racism here, colonialism in Africa, and fascism and imperialism all over the world.
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