Brian Kwoba: HUBERT HARRISON: FORBIDDEN GENIUS OF BLACK RADICALISM

Winner of the 2026 Frantz Fanon Outstanding Book Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association, Dr. Brian Kwoba's new biography highlights the significance of Hubert Henry Harrison (1883–1927). Innovator of radical solutions to radical injustices, he gave voice to a global political awakening as a leading figure in cutting-edge struggles for socialism, internationalism, free love, freethinking, and free speech.

He did far more than cultivate the rich, dark soil in which the so-called “Harlem Renaissance” would take root. Harrison also played a pivotal role in the rise of Marcus Garvey and the emergence of the largest international organization of African people in modern history. Because of his fearless radicalism, however, he has been erased from popular memory. This conversation brings him to life in contemporary memory.

Dr. Brian Kwoba was born in the United States to a Kenyan father and American mother. After studies at Cornell and Tufts Universities, he moved to the UK to undertake doctoral studies in history at the University of Oxford. There he was a founding member of the “Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford” Black student movement to decolonize education.

Dr. Kwoba is currently an associate professor of history and also the director of African and African American Studies at the University of Memphis. Over the past two decades, Dr. Kwoba has been an activist on issues including anti-imperialism, immigrant workers rights, climate justice, Falastin, pan-Africanism, and the movement for Black lives. In his spare time, he is a big time music lover (especially live jazz), an Afrobeats DJ, and a frequent traveler to Kenya.

His book on Hubert Harrison won the 2026 Frantz Fanon Oustanding Book Award from the Caribbean Philosophical Association.

Minkah Makalani is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

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