"Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism" Presentation by Jeffrey B. Perry Dudley Public Library, Roxbury, Mass., February 15, 2014 Hubert H. Harrison (1883-1927) is one of the truly important figures of twentieth-century history. A brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic, and political activist, he was described by Joel A. Rogers, in "World's Great Men of Color" as "the foremost Afro-American intellect of his time." Labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph described Harrison as "the father of Harlem Radicalism." Harrison served as the foremost Black organizer, agitator, and theoretician in the Socialist Party of New York during its 1912 heyday; he founded the first organization (the Liberty League) and the first newspaper ("The Voice") of the militant, World War I-era "New Negro" movement; edited "The New Negro: A Monthly Magazine of a Different Sort" ("intended as an organ of the international consciousness of the darker races -- especially of the Negro race") in 1919; wrote "When Africa Awakes: The 'Inside Story' of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World" in 1920; and he served as editor of the "Negro World" and principal radical influence on the Garvey movement during its radical high point in 1920. His views on race and class profoundly influenced a generation of "New Negro" militants and common people including the class radical A. Philip Randolph and the race radical Marcus Garvey. Considered more race conscious than Randolph and more class conscious than Garvey, Harrison is the key link in the ideological unity of the two great trends of the Black Liberation Movement -- the labor and civil rights trend associated with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the race and nationalist trend associated with Malcolm X. (Randolph and Garvey were, respectively, the direct links to King marching on Washington, with Randolph at his side, and to Malcolm (whose father was a Garveyite preacher and whose mother wrote for the Negro World), speaking militantly and proudly on street corners in Harlem. Harrison was also an immensely skilled and popular orator and educator; a highly praised journalist, critic, and book reviewer; a pioneer Black activist in the freethought and birth control movements; and a bibliophile and library builder and popularizer who helped develop the 135th Street Public Library into what is now the internationally famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. For more on Harrison see www.jeffreybperry.net/disc.htm and see www.jeffreybperry.net/_center__font_size__3__font_color__green___b_1__hubert_harrison___i_the_voice_of_76560.htm For more on Harrison and on the work of Theodore W. Allen see "The Developing Conjuncture and Some Insights from Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen on the Centrality of the Fight Against White Supremacy" available at www.jeffreybperry.net (top left) and at www.scribd.com/doc/80815477/Hubert-Harrison-Ted-Allen-Connex For “Hubert Harrison, Theodore W. Allen, and the Centrality of the Struggle Against White Supremacy” by Jeffrey B. Perry see www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcuvUeqr-tY For those interested in a video on Theodore W. Allen's work, which focuses on "The Invention of the White Race," especially Volume II: "The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America" see the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gq77rOuZck and see www.jeffreybperry.net/_center__i__font_size__3__font_color__sepia___b_6__the_invention_of_the_br_white_116387.htm The Dudley Library event was hosted by Mimi Jones and sponsored by Friends of the Dudley Library, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, and Massachusetts Global Action. Contact people included Mirna Lascano, Umang Kumar, and Charlie Welch in addition to Mimi Jones. Note: The presentation and Question and Answer period lasted over 2 hours. The TV station edited it down. There was much more presentation and discussion. The crowd was remarkable since the event was at the highpoint of the winter's big snowstorm, the governor was telling people to stay off the roads, and the public library closed early (only leaving a door open to the auditorium where this event was held). Those who made it to the event were determined and this was manifested in their interest during the presentation, the lengthy Q and A period, and much informal discussion that went on into the evening. This video Hubert Harrison prepared by Boston Neighborhood News TV's "Around Town" -- Channel: Comcast 9 / RCN 15 -- Justin D. Shannahan, Production Manager, Ted Lewis, cameraman, and Laura Kerivan, copy editor. Nia Grace (Marketing and Promotions Manager), and Scott Mercer coordinated efforts to make the video available. Video courtesy of Boston Neighborhood Network Television. Twitter for BNN's online videos are at @BNN_Television #WatchBNNTV. For Boston Neighborhood Network fan page -- facebook.com/BNNTelevision #WatchBNNTV

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