In commemoration of the revolutionary spirit and enduring legacy of Kwame Ture, revered Africana Studies scholar and freedom fighter Dr. Greg Carr took to social media to deliver a stirring poetic tribute, illustrating Ture’s journey from Howard University to the international stages of Guinea and the global Black liberation movement.
Thunder Son of Africa
Trini-born
NY raised
SNCC-bred
Born Again African.
Cool Fire Stoking
Carmichael
All-African
Black Power
Organizer.
Forward Ever
Backward Never.
Stay Ready
for Revolution
This and Every Time,
‘Til We
Survive America
with Our loss absorbing
Funk
Playing changes
Enlarging ranges
to
Win.
Happy 84th Birthday, #KwameTure #StokelyCarmichael
–Dr . Greg Carr
On this day in 1941, Kwame Ture, born Stokely Carmichael in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was born.
A revolutionary force in the struggle for Black liberation, Ture would go on to challenge the very core of white supremacy, both in the U.S. and abroad.
After immigrating to the Bronx at the age of 11, he discovered his political passion at Howard University, where he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). But it wasn’t long before he grew disillusioned with the slow pace of change.
In 1966, Ture electrified the movement when he shouted what would become a powerful phrase of the era: “We want Black Power!”
Ture later aligned with revolutionary thinkers like Malcolm X and Fidel Castro and eventually moved to Guinea, where he worked closely with President Sékou Touré and became an organizer with the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party. He shed the name Stokely Carmichael and took on the name Kwame Ture, honoring African leaders Kwame Nkrumah and Sékou Touré.
Until he died in 1998, Ture remained a tireless voice for Pan-Africanism, anti-imperialism and Black unity.
