Editorial Board

William L. (Bill) Strickland

BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member William L. (Bill) Strickland -Teaches political science in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is also the Director of the Du Bois Papers Collection. The Du Bois Papers are housed at the University of Massachusetts library, which is named in honor of this prominent African American intellectual and Massachusetts native. Professor Strickland is a founding member of the independent black think tank in Atlanta the Institute of the Black World (IBW), headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Strickland was a consultant to both series of the prize-winning documentary on the civil rights movement, Eyes on the Prize (PBS Mini Series Boxed Set), and the senior consultant on the PBS documentary, The American Experience: Malcolm X: Make It Plain. He also wrote the companion book Malcolm X: Make It Plain. Most recently, Professor Strickland was a consultant on the Louis Massiah film on W.E.B. Du Bois - W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices. Click here to contact Mr. Strickland.

3 pieces

Commentary

Remembering Malcolm – A Personal Critique of Manning Marable’s Non-Definitive Biography of Malcolm X

By William L. (Bill) Strickland Editorial Board

At the outset, I want to “make it plain” [1] that my critique of Manning Marable’s Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention is political, historical, and personal—personal because I was born in Boston and grew up in the same Roxbury that Malcolm once called home. Though he was, of course, a generation older. Malcolm, Roxbury…

At the outset, I want to “make it plain” [1] that my critique of Manning Marable’s Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention is political, historical, and…

Continue reading 34 min

Commentary

Obama, the Democrats,(and Julia Roberts):Sleeping With The Enemy

By William L. (Bill) Strickland Editorial Board

Note: This is part 2 of a two part commentary. Click here for part 1. Black political struggle in America has never been simply about the right to vote because black people are the only Americans who have had that right to vote given – and taken away time and time again. Our struggle for…

Note: This is part 2 of a two part commentary. Click here for part 1. Black political struggle in America has never been simply about the…

Continue reading 5 min

Commentary

Obama & the Democrats Compromising with the GOP Right

By William L. (Bill) Strickland Editorial Board

Note: This is part 1 of a two part commentary. In l964, LBJ and the Democratic party establishment declined to seat the delegation of loyal Democrats from the Mississippi Freedom Democratic party, led by Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer of Ruleville, Mississippi, despite the fact that the regular white Democrats had secretly decided to support Arizona…

Note: This is part 1 of a two part commentary. In l964, LBJ and the Democratic party establishment declined to seat the delegation of loyal Democrats…

Continue reading 3 min