hubert - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-28T19:59:37Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/hubertApril 27th is the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Hubert Henry Harrison (1883-1927) Extraordinary Harlem-Based Intellectual and Activisthttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/april-27th-is-the-130th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-hubert-henry2013-04-26T15:45:00.000Z2013-04-26T15:45:00.000ZJeffrey B. Perryhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/JeffreyBPerry<div><p style="text-align:center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">April 27th is the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Hubert Henry Harrison (1883-1927)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Extraordinary Harlem-Based Intellectual and Activist</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Hubert Henry Harrison (1883-1927) is one of the truly important figures of early twentieth-century America. A brilliant writer, orator, educator, critic, and political activist, he was described by the historian Joel A. Rogers, in "World’s Great Men of Color" as “the foremost Afro-American intellect of his time.” Rogers adds that “No one worked more seriously and indefatigably to enlighten” others and “none of the Afro-American leaders of his time had a saner and more effective program.” Labor and civil rights leader A. Philip Randolph described Harrison as “the father of Harlem Radicalism.” Harrison’s friend and pallbearer, Arthur Schomburg, fully aware of his popularity, eulogized to the thousands attending Harrison’s Harlem funeral that he was also “ahead of his time.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Born in St. Croix, Danish West Indies, in 1883, to a Bajan mother and a Crucian father, Harrison arrived in New York as a seventeen-year-old orphan in 1900. He made his mark in the United States by struggling against class and race oppression, by helping to create a remarkably rich and vibrant intellectual life among African Americans, and by working for the enlightened development of the lives of “the common people.” He consistently emphasized the need for working class people to develop class-consciousness; for “Negroes” to develop race consciousness, self-reliance, and self-respect; and for all those he reached to challenge white supremacy and develop modern, scientific, critical, and independent thought as a means toward liberation.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">A self-described “radical internationalist,” Harrison was extremely well versed in history and events in Africa, Asia, the Mideast, the Americas, and Europe. More than any other political leader of his era, he combined class-consciousness and anti-white supremacist race consciousness in a coherent political radicalism. He opposed capitalism and maintained that white supremacy was central to capitalist rule in the United States. He emphasized that “politically, the Negro is the touchstone of the modern democratic idea”; that “as long as the Color Line exists, all the perfumed protestations of Democracy on the part of the white race” were “downright lying”; that “the cant of ‘Democracy’” was “intended as dust in the eyes of white voters”; and that true democracy and equality for “Negroes” implied “a revolution . . . startling even to think of.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Working from this theoretical framework, he was active with a wide variety of movements and organizations and played signal roles in the development of what were, up to that time, the largest class radical movement (socialism) and the largest race radical movement (the “New Negro”/Garvey movement) in U.S. history. His ideas on the centrality of the struggle against white supremacy anticipated the profound transformative power of the Civil Rights/Black Liberation struggles of the 1960s and his thoughts on “democracy in America” offer penetrating insights on the limitations and potential of America in the twenty-first century.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">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; and he served as the 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 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 parents were involved with the Garvey movement, speaking militantly and proudly on street corners in Harlem.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Harrison was not only a political radical, however. Rogers described him as an “Intellectual Giant and Free-Lance Educator,” whose contributions were wide-ranging, innovative, and influential. He was an immensely skilled and popular orator and educator who spoke and/or read six languages; a highly praised journalist, critic, and book reviewer (reportedly the first regular Black book reviewer "in Negro newspaperdom"); a pioneer Black activist in the freethought and birth control movements; a bibliophile and library builder and popularizer who helped develop the 135th Street Public Library into what became known as the internationally famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; a pioneer Black lecturer for the New York City Board of Education, and one of its foremost orators).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">April 27th is the 130th anniversary of the birth of Hubert Henry Harrison -- there is much to learn from the life and work of this extraordinary intellectual and activist.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;">Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.jeffreybperry.net" target="_blank">http://www.jeffreybperry.net</a></p><p> </p></div>It's Hamer Timehttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/it-s-hamer-time2011-10-21T05:11:41.000Z2011-10-21T05:11:41.000ZRaynard Jacksonhttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/RaynardJackson<div><p><b>October 20, 2011</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b>Raynard Jackson</b></p><p><b> </b></p><p>Fannie Lou Hamer (pronounced hay-mer) was one of the unsung pillars of the civil rights movement in the U.S. She was a phenomenal woman—a woman of great determination and great purpose. She was not one to hold back her feelings, especially when fighting for equality.</p><p> </p><p>In 1964 she was elected Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Their stated purpose was to challenge Mississippi’s all-white delegation to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) which was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.</p><p> </p><p>Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson was furious that a group of Blacks would challenge the Democratic Party and interfere with his reelections plans. Johnson often referred to Hamer as “that illiterate woman.”</p><p> </p><p>Out of desperation, Johnson sent top Democratic Party officials to negotiate with the MFDP, most notably, Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota (he was lobbying very hard for Johnson to choose him as his running mate for Vice President). </p><p> </p><p>Johnson offered to give the MFDP two non-voting seats at the upcoming convention in exchange for their silence and had secured the endorsement of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).</p><p> </p><p>Humphrey had indicated to the group that if the group didn’t agree to this deal, Johnson would not choose him as his running mate. Hamer was always considered the moral conscious of the group and here is her response to Humphrey: “<i>Do you mean to tell me that your position is more important than four hundred thousand black people's lives? Senator Humphrey, I know lots of people in Mississippi who have lost their jobs trying to register to vote. I had to leave the plantation where I worked in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Now if you lose this job of Vice-President because you do what is right, because you help the MFDP, everything will be all right. God will take care of you. But if you take [the nomination] this way, why, you will never be able to do any good for civil rights, for poor people, for peace, or any of those things you talk about. Senator Humphrey, I'm going to pray to Jesus for you."</i></p><p><i> </i></p><p>As a result of her principled stand, Hamer was excluded from future negotiations. Johnson was so afraid of Hamer that he pressured the MFDP to agree to allow the DNC to select the two delegates to be seated in order to prevent Hamer from being chosen. The MFDP ultimately rejected the proposed deal.</p><p> </p><p>But what does that say about the rest of the leadership of the MFDP—that they would allow their “moral conscious” from attending future meetings? </p><p> </p><p>Black leadership, those sanctioned by whites, have always been easy to silence because they have no conscious. They want to be liked. They want to seen in photographs.</p><p> </p><p>Of all of her many accomplishments, she was best known for what would eventually be the epitaph that would be written on the tombstone on her grave: “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired."</p><p> </p><p>Where are the Fannie Lou Hamers of today? I cannot imagine Hamer allowing Obama, Pelosi and Reid to get away with their total disregard of issues of concern to the Black community. I can’t imagine her “cutting a deal” just to get an invitation to the White House are to be seen standing next to someone in power. She never lost sight of the goal.</p><p> </p><p>Hamer had very little leverage, other than moral suasion, to use against Johnson and the Democrats; but yet forced the DNC to change their platform for the 1968 election. Today, Blacks have money, votes, and media; but lack the will to use moral suasion or any other means to affect change.</p><p> </p><p>The supposed Black leaders of today seem only to be concerned about being invited to the White House for a photo opportunity. Black Elected officials are too afraid of criticizing Obama. But what are they afraid of? Obama hasn’t given them anything that he could take away from them! Yet, in my private conversations with many of these people, they constantly complain about how Obama is ignoring them and their issues. </p><p> </p><p>Are they not “sick and tired of being sick and tired?”</p><p> </p><p>California representative Maxine Waters is one of the few elected officials to publically criticize Obama, but she also apologizes to him in the same sentence.</p><p> </p><p>So, to all my Black Democratic friends, I challenge you to get on the phone to your Black leaders and all the Democratic Party officials and let them know in no uncertain terms that “it’s Hamer time!”</p><p> </p><p><i>Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC., a D.C.-public relations/government affairs firm. He is also a contributing editor for ExcellStyle Magazine (</i><a href="http://www.excellstyle.com/"><i>www.excellstyle.com</i></a><i>), Freedom’s Journal Magazine (</i><a href="http://www.freedomsjournal.net/"><i>www.freedomsjournal.net</i></a><i>), and U.S. Africa Magazine (</i><a href="http://www.usafricaonline.com/"><i>www.usafricaonline.com</i></a><i>).</i></p></div>