My mother, Alice Broady McWorter.
College and graduate school
As a college student at Ottawa University in Kansas, where my Afro-Cuban roommate Mario Argote taught me how to dress for the future. He had worked as a translator at Brooks Brothers in New York City.
As a graduate student things began to change. Here I am discussing with my parents my decision to join the Mississippi Summer Project. SNCC subsequently reassigned me back to Chicago.
Still a graduate student, I received an invitation to join the Episcopal Church delegation to the World Council of Churches. Elected to a position in their Church and Society program, I spoke on a panel at their World Conference on Church and Society in Geneva, 1966.
At the same Geneva Church and Society meeting, I organized youth to lead a protest against war, imperialism and racism at the Palace of Nations, the offices of the United Nations in Geneva. Several of us spoke at the protest. See a description of this event on pages 17-19 of the 1966 Church and Society report.
Faculty
Giving a campus talk at Fisk University in Nashville, my first job out of graduate school. Photo by Bobby Sengstacke, artist in residence there. See too this syllabus and this speech
Talking with A. B. Spellman in Atlanta. From Fisk I had moved to the faculty of Spelman College to join A. B., Vincent Harding, Steven Henderson, and others in founding the Institute of the Black World. See too this plan for an IBW summer workshop
Speaking to a gathering of Morehouse College students from a Harkness Hall balcony during an April 1969 student takeover. Clipping from Ebony magazine, September 1969, page 98. That semester I taught a course with Kofi Wangara called "Two Continents of African Revolution." After a month of class, the students took over a board of trustees meeting and held the trustees captive for 36 hours. See too the course outline.
Chairing a plenary session at the founding meeting of the National Association of African American Educators, to be headed by Preston Wilcox. In Chicago. For more about Preston Wilcox, see http://brothermalcolm.net/wilcox/
Teaching at the University of Toledo, 1997. I directed UT's Africana Studies Program from 1996-2007. See also this documentary account of year one.
Robert Wedgeworth visiting my personal library and archive. A friend since high school, Bob served as executive director of the American Library Association and president of the International Federation of Library Associations. You can also watch a video about this library/archive
Black liberation
A panel of leaders of the African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) and the African Heritage Studies Association (AHSA) in New York City. Left to right: Owusu Saudaki, Abdul Alkalimat, James Turner, Amiri Baraka, Leonard Jefferies, Gene Locke, Ron Walters, and Lynn Dozier. In New York City. In 1974. See also the flyer for this event. (34)
With Trevor Munroe, then General Secretary of the Workers Party of Jamaica, during a conference on the Caribbean that we organized at Fisk University. In 1973. See also the documentation for this event.
At a post-lecture reception for Harold Washington, shortly before he annouced his candidacy for Mayor of Chicago in 1983. As head of African American Studies at the University of Illinois, I invited him to speak on campus. From left to right William Warfield, Abdul Alkalimat. and Harold Washington. See also the website devoted to him.
At the "Malcolm X: Radical Tradition and Legacy of Struggle" conference in New York City. More than 2,500 scholars and activists from 20 states and 15 countries gathered to make and hear 115 presentations. Left to right, seated: Margaret Burroughs, John Henrik Clarke, Augusta Kappner, Betty Shabazz. Left to right, standing: James Cone, C. Eric Lincoln, bell hooks, Alex Haley, Roscoe Brown, Lez Edmond, Amiri Baraka, Abdul Alkalimat, William Sales, Joe Wood. In 1990.
Five of us organized the Black Radical Congress, which took place in Chicago in 1998. Left to right: Barbara Ransby, Bill Fletcher, Abdul Alkalimat, Leith Mullins, and Manning Marable. See also this position paper for the BRC.
Group portrait of speakers at a conference on Malcolm X organized by Robert Chrisman in Omaha. Left to right: Joseph White, William Sales, Abdul Alkalimat, Johnny Rogers, Ernie Allen, and a local reporter. In 2002. See also the conference program.
Speaking at a New Philadelphia Association event alongside of NPA president Phil Bradshaw. New Philadelphia was the first town in the US founded by an African American, my great-great-grandfather Free Frank McWorter. For more, see http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/NP/.
Africa solidarity work
A Peoples College demonstration in Nashville, Tennessee, while I was on the faculty of Fisk University. The baby is my daughter Malaika Mei-ling Efe McWorter, born on the first US African Liberation Day in 1972.
African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) executive committee meeting in Jubilee Hall, Fisk University during 1973-1974. Left to right: Owusu Sadauki (Howard Fuller), John Warfield, Brenda Paris, Dawolo Gene Locke, Akinlabi (of Rochester, NY), Amiri Baraka, Abdul Alkalimat. See too this documentary history; it is a large file.
Speaking at an African Liberation Day event in Nashville, Tennessee. In the United State ALD was organized by the African Liberation Support Committee. (28)
Speaking with the US representative of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) at a Free Zimbabwe event at Rev. Al Sampson's church in Chcago. The event was sponsored by the African Liberation Support Committee.
Engaging the Chicago police who were trying to intervene in an African Liberation Day march.
With Tajudeen Abdul Raheem, General Secretary of the Pan-African Congress Movement, at the 7th Pan-African Congress in Kampala. I served as Coordinator for North America. See also the declaration of the congress and a summation from members of the US delegation.
An audience with the King of Buganda, Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II, son of Mutesa II. Buganda is a kingdom within Uganda. Meeting held in connection with the 7th Pan-African Congress in Kampala.
With Abdulrahman Mohamad Babu in Uganda during the 7th Pan-African Congress.
Other international activity
A September 1972 trip to Cuba as part of a student delegation hosted by the Communist Party of Cuba. See also this report presented in Cuba; it is a large file.
After the 1973 World Festival of Youth in Berlin, I traveled with Tom Porter, center right, to Moscow. With us are Roberta Sanders Gray and Ras I, then known as Ricky Calhoun.
Visiting a spot in East Berlin linked with the history of revolutionary thought.
At the International Book Fair of Radical Black and Third World Books in London. Left to right: Abdul Alkalimat, John Stewart, Abubakar Siddique, and Sandra Stewart. See also this report on one of the book fairs; it is a large file.
Berlin. With Nii Addy and May Opitz in Berlin. I connected with the Afro-German movement while a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin. May was a poet, scholar, and activist. Nii is an international political economics consultant. He came to Chicago to study with me, focusing on Malcolm X.
With General Baker in Brussels, Belgium. We were May Day guests of the Workers Party of Belgium.
With a Central Committee member of the Workers Party of Belgium, during a May Day event.
A gathering of brothers in South Africa, notably on far left my friend Vusi Mchunu. During this visit I was adopted into my South African family and his clan, and given the Zulu name Themba Mchunu: the one who has returned home.
With Mrs. Grace Bansa, director of the W. E. B. DuBois Archive Encyclopedia Africana project, both of us speaking at a conference in Ghana. (19)
Enjoying one of many visits to the London residence of John La Rose and Sarah White. Left to right: John La Rose, Gus John, Abdul Alkalimat, and Sarah White. See also this tribute to John La Rose.
A November 2010 conference and lecture tour to China included these colleagues, among others. Left to right: Taku Sugimoto from Japan, Noah Lenstra from Illinois, Abdul Alkalimat, Hui Yan from Beijing (our host and organizer), and Adrian Kok from Singapore and Chicago. See also this excerpt of our Chinese-English volume on community informatics.
Family
My mother, Alice Broady McWorter.
My father, Festus McWorter.
My sister, Sandra (Aysha) McWorter Marsh.
My daughter, Mei-Ling McWorter Leonard.
With my grandsons Donis and Solomon Leonard.