African-American leftism
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African-American leftism refers to left-wing political currents that have developed among various African-American communities in the United States of America. These currents are active around social issues, and often call for an expansive state that aims at bringing about equality of outcome between the African-American community and White community and other minority groups.
Notable African-American leftists
Politicians
- Van Jones - environmentalist, CNN contributor
- John Lewis – Congressman from Georgia, first chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
- Andrew Young – former mayor of Atlanta, congressman and first black person to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
- Mary McLeod Bethune – first black woman to serve as head of a federal agency
- Corrine Brown – Congresswoman from Florida
- Shirley Chisholm – first African-American woman elected to Congress
- John Conyers – Congressman from Michigan
- Chaka Fattah – United States House of Representatives from Philadelphia
- Barbara Jordan – former Democratic congresswoman from Texas
- Barbara Lee – Congresswoman representing California's 9th congressional district
- Cynthia McKinney – former Congresswoman from Georgia, 1993 to 2003 and 2005 to 2007. Presidential nominee of the Green Party of the United States in 2008
- Thurgood Marshall – first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court
- Ray Nagin – former mayor of New Orleans
- Al Sharpton – political activist and minister
- Charles Barron – New York City Councilman representing the 42nd district, founder of New York Democratic Freedom Party
- John F. Street – mayor of Philadelphia
- Maxine Waters – Congresswoman from California's 35th congressional district
- Coleman Young – former mayor of Detroit
- Sheila Jackson-Lee – Congresswoman from Houston, Texas
- Jesse Jackson, Jr. – Congressman from Chicago
Civil Rights activists
- Martin Luther King, Jr. – prominent civil rights activist, Baptist minister, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
- Bayard Rustin – gay civil rights activist
- Angela Davis – Black Panther, ran for Vice President on the Communist Party USA nomination several times
- George Jackson – communist Panther prison activist
- Amiri Baraka – poet
- W. E. B. Du Bois – civil rights activist, sociologist, historian, writer, editor, poet, and scholar
- Harry Haywood – Communist Party leader and Marxist theorist
- Paul Robeson – actor, singer, athlete, and peace activist
- Langston Hughes – poet and communist
- Mumia Abu-Jamal – former Black Panther member, convicted for murdering a Philadelphia police officer
- Malcolm X – civil rights activist, African-American Muslim leader
- Jesse Jackson – civil rights activist, head of the Rainbow Coalition
- Kweisi Mfume – former President/CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
- Huey P. Newton – co-founder of the Black Panthers
- Elaine Brown – Black Panther Party chair while Newton was in exile
- Fred Hampton – Panther leader in Chicago
- Fred Hampton, Jr. – founder of the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement
- Rosa Parks – activist well known for not surrendering her bus seat to a white male
- A. Philip Randolph – Socialist who was active in the labor movement and the civil rights movement.
- Bobby Seale – co-founder of the Black Panthers
- Assata Shakur – former Black Panther, convicted for allegedly murdering a New Jersey state trooper. Currently under political asylum in Cuba
- Cornel West – prominent scholar and public intellectual, democratic socialist
Media
- Tom Joyner – radio show host
- John McWhorter – author of Losing the Race and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute
- Tavis Smiley – talk show host, liberal political commentator, author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist
Artists
Though some African-American entertainers have not expressed affiliation with a political party, they have been known to be critical of U.S. Government policies.
- Black Thought - musician, activist
- Harry Belafonte – musician, actor
- Jim Brown – former actor and football running back
- Dave Chappelle – comedian
- Chuck D – rapper
- Dead Prez – hip-hop group
- Laurence Fishburne – actor
- Marvin Gaye – musician
- Danny Glover – actor
- Eddie Griffin – comedian
- Gil Scott-Heron – musician, poet
- Lauryn Hill – hip-hop/R&B musician
- Ice Cube – rapper, actor
- Talib Kweli – rapper
- Ice-T – rapper, actor
- Samuel L. Jackson – actor
- Magic Johnson – former NBA player
- Spike Lee – filmmaker
- Aaron McGruder – cartoonist, creator of The Boondocks
- Paul Mooney – comedian
- Nas – rapper
- Michael Jackson – musician
- Prince – musician
- Sidney Poitier – actor
- Richard Pryor – comedian
- Mos Def – rapper
- Chris Rock – comedian
- Tupac Shakur – rapper
- John Singleton – filmmaker
- Wesley Snipes – actor
- Kanye West – rapper
- Stevie Wonder – musician
- Paul Robeson – musician
Organisations
- African Blood Brotherhood
- Black Liberation Army
- Black Panthers
- National Brotherhood of Workers of America
See also
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954)
- African Caribbean leftism
- The Communist Party USA and African-Americans
- Black conservatism in the United States
External links
- Seeing Black
- Playa Hata “Think, now think again”
- Black Commentator
- Women of Color Web
- NetNoir.com
- Black Voices
- Black Radical Congress
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