Kerri K. Greenidge is Mellon Associate Professor at Tufts University. Her previous book, Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter, won the 2020 Mark Lynton History Prize, among other awards. She lives in Westborough, Massachusetts.
"Kerri K. Greenidge’s spirited biography [is] an ardent and mostly
approving account of Trotter’s life that nevertheless conveys the
more vexing elements of his personality…. Black Radical opens up a
rich seam of inquiry that persists to this day, about the
tug-of-war between reformers and radicals, and whether victories
that seem purely symbolic at first can ripple out into real-world
effects later on."
*Jennifer Szalai, New York Times ("Times Critics Top Books of
2019")*
"[Trotter's] legacy presents a challenge to those who seek change
today: is compromise a necessary evil of any social movement, or is
it the original sin of collective action? Greenidge argues that
[his] protests, dismissed by many people at the time as
publicity-seeking stunts, are Trotter’s real legacy.... One of the
most satisfying accomplishments of Black Radical is the way that
Greenidge situates Trotter’s biography in the broader story of
liberal New England. Boston, Greenidge reminds her readers,
incubated the politics of Malcolm X and of the Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr., not to mention the writers Pauline Hopkins and
Dorothy West."
*Casey Cep, The New Yorker*
"In this engagingly written biography, historian Kerri Greenidge
has penned a volume that provides a penetrating view of William
Monroe Trotter’s radical thought and remarkable life. Black Radical
incisively explores Trotter’s thirty years of editing and
publishing the Guardian and brilliantly traces his influence on the
emergence of “radical black consciousness at the turn of the
twentieth century.” Moreover, this volume provides a detailed and
compelling portrait of African American life in Boston; accessible
to all readers, Greenidge’s new book is a valuable addition to the
literature."
*Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor,
Harvard University*
"This engaging account of the life of William Monroe Trotter
reclaims the vital work of an unsung activist and the complex
reality of the long civil rights movement. Black Radical reminds us
that the historic fight against racial violence and injustice was
as Northern as it was Southern, as renegade as it was reformist. An
important book and a rich chronicle of the past with urgent lessons
for today."
*Alondra Nelson, author of Body and Soul*
"William Monroe Trotter was not only present at the creation of the
modern civil rights movement, Kerri Greenidge's welcome biography
establishes that by his visionary militancy and selfless financial
support Trotter merits reconsideration as progenitor of the
movement. A major addition to the literature."
*David Levering Lewis, Pulitzer prize-winning author of W. E. B.
DuBois, Volumes 1 and 2*
"Kerri Greenidge has created the rare book where the actual writing
is as exquisite as the stunning research. Black Radical offers a
lush layered story and a blueprint for liberation."
*Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
