HAKI R. MADHUBUTIS 75 YEAR LEGACY CONTINUES
HAKI R. MADHUBUTI’S 75 YEAR LEGACY CONTINUES
By Chris Shuttlesworth
Times have changed, but Haki R. Madhubuti’s ideas about Black empowerment have remained the same.
An award-winning writer who has published 31 books, he’s
been a community advocate and a vital proponent of independent Black institutions.
Recently, members of the Black community in Chicago came together to help him celebrate his 75th birthday at the Grand Ballroom on 6351 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The event marked a moment in time to not only celebrate Madhubuti’s great fortune of being on the planet for 75 years, but it was also an opportunity to reflect back on the importance of recognizing those who have fought the good fight over time, even in the face of adversity.
Madhubuti, who has received countless awards for his efforts towards the progression of Black literature, was also recognized in 2009 when he was named one of the “Ebony Power 150: Most Influential Blacks in America” for education.
He said he never wanted to be famous because in his eyes, fame wasn’t everything. While fame hasn’t been high on his priority list, the education and enlightenment of Black people has.
Whether it was teaching at colleges like Chicago State University, Howard University and the University of Iowa or through his 1-million copy best-seller book entitled, “Black
Men: Obsolete, Single, And Dangerous? The African American Family in Transition” (1990), Madhubuti has inspired people
nationwide both in and outside of the classroom.
His passion for literature was also evident when he started
the Third World Press Foundation in 1967. Third World Press Foundation is the oldest independent publisher of Black thought and literature in the country, according to its website. “Madhubuti (then known as Don L. Lee), with early support from Johari Amini and Carolyn Rodgers, launched Third World Press Foundation from his basement apartment on the South Side of Chicago. With Madhubuti’s $400 honorarium received from a poetry reading, a used mimeograph machine, and individuals committed to the local and national Black Arts and empowerment movements, the Press produced its first publications. During the formative years of the Press, Madhubuti was mentored and supported by a strong circle
of artists, journalists, writers and professionals including Margaret Burroughs, Dudley Randall, Hoyt W. Fuller, Curtis Ellis, SoyiniWalton, and Gwendolyn Brooks,” according to thirdworldpressfoundation.com.
Additionally, Madhubuti is founder of the Institute of Positive Education/New Concept School (1969), and a cofounder of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School (1998), Barbara A. Sizemore Middle School (2005), and DuSable Leadership Academy (2005), all of which are in Chicago,” according to a Third World Press, press release.
“This is a collective endeavor,” Madhubuti said. “I can’t run this by myself. It has to have people who believe in the vision, ideas and so forth. For over 50 years, we have been trying to
do this work.”
He said the schools’ work is in two areas: education and communication, adding that he and his collective group felt that if Black people don’t have serious control of their own destiny,
then there is no destiny.
“We’ve been essential about not only finding our names and giving our children names that represent their African heritage and ancestry, but at the same time, remaking and remodeling what our children should learn in a higher technology, scientific and educational base economy and culture,” said Madhubuti.
He acknowledged that it’s a tall task trying to help youth in the Black community and that he and his group do not have “the answer,” but they have “an answer.” So, they will continue to show Black people that they can own more than just
liquor stores and churches in the community.
“Any people who are in control of their own culture, political, economic and social imperatives are about the healthy reproclamation of themselves,” he said, adding, the problems Black people are facing in the Black community aren’t problems that Irish, Italians or even Polish communities are facing, primarily because white supremacy and white nationalists run this, “bad boy,” he said.
“All too often, our young people don’t recognize that early enough,” he added. “They are not reading the proper material
that elevates and enlightens them about their own history, culture and place in the world because they are reading material that’s anti-Black in many ways.”
He said Third World Press Foundation,
however, publishes material and associates with men and women who have ideas because ideas and the creators of ideas run the world and we all tap dance to someone’s ideas, he said.
“The question is who idea is we tap-dancing to,” [sic] Madhubuti asked? “Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Democrats, Republicans? I mean whose ideas are we really dancing to? So, for us we’re wise, strong, sharp and smart enough to understand that essentially, if we’re going to live and survive we have to create our own at every level
of human involvement.”
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