Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)

858 Pages·2005·17.357 MB·English

by  Stokely Carmichael, E. M. Thelwell

READY FDR
REVDLUTIDN
THE LIFE AND STRUGGLES OF
STOKELY CARMICHAEL
{ KWAME TURE}
STOKELY CARMICHAEL
Praise for Ready for Revolution
"Reading the book, in fact, is like sitting down with the last of the 'grand
old men' of the movement and having him give you the back-story as to
what was going on .... It is passionate about politics and struggle ...
[and] dead-up hilarious in describing the twists and turns on the road to
revolution."
-The Nation
"[T]he essential, posthumous autobiography of the brilliant militant
who popularized the term 'black power.' It should become a standard
text in American history courses."
-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"[T] old largely in Carmichael's own stylish, often thunderous, first
person words, [this is] a compelling portrait of a radical thinker who radi
ated charisma and practiced revolution to the end.''
-Publishers weekly
"[T]his inspirational autobiography establishes 'Give me liberty or give
me death!' as the legitimate rallying cry of all freedom fighters without
regard to race, creed, color, or national origin."
-The Washington Informer
"Eschew[s] reductionism ... [a] profound and expansive work."
-Library Journal
"[A] compelling and necessary story told with masterly skill, respect, and
fidelity."
-Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart
"Undaunted by the certain prospect of his imminent demise, (the
author] has bequeathed to us what is sure to become one of the great
American autobiographies."
-Robert A. Hill, professor of history, UCLA
"[I] ntense, engaging, compelling."
-Howard Dodson, director, Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture
"I knew Stokely as a brilliant, charismatic, and courageous figure in the
Southern movement against racism. He was a thinker of extraordinary
vision and a fighter of unequalled courage. We should welcome his auto
biography as told to his friend Mike Thelwell."
-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
"[O]ne of the most engaging and interesting autobiographies I have
ever read. The struggles of the civil rights movement and Carmichael's
vision of social justice come alive in this important contribution to social
history."
-William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser
University Professor, Harvard University
"The provocative is made plain, the enigmatic clarified, and the elusive
becomes sensible-with Stokely's unique voice, wit, and verve."
-Mary King, former SNCC worker and author of Freedom Song
"No historian of the civil rights movement will be able to write about this
period without consulting this indispensable book. Written in the lan
gauge and from the heart of African America, it is also an immense sty
listic achievement."
-Manisha Sinha, author of The Counterrevolution of Slavery

ALSO BY STOKELY CARMICHAEL (KWAME TURE)
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation
Stokely Speaks: Black Power Back to Pan-Africanism
ALSO BY EKWUEME MICHAEL THELWELL
The Harder They Come
Duties, Pleasures, and Conflicts: Essays in Struggle
READY FOR
REVOLUTION
The Life and Struggles of
STOKELY CARMICHAEL
(KWAME TURE)
STOKELY CARMICHAEL
with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
SCRIBNER
NEW YORK LONDON TORONTO SYDNEY
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New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 2003 by The Estate of Kwame Ture and Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
First Scribner trade paperback edition 2005
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used under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases,
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DESIGNED BY ERICH HOBBING
Text set in Plantin
Manufactured in the United States of America
5 6 7 8 9 10
Library of Congress Control Number: 2003061030
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-85003-0
ISBN-10: 0-684-85003-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-85004-7 (Pbk)
ISBN-I 0: 0-684-85004-4 (Pbk)
Permissions acknowledgments appear on page 836.
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO
My mother, May Charles, and Bocar Biro, my son.
My people who everywhere suffer, struggle, and endure.
Those brave and selfless sisters and brothers who,
without thought of personal gain or even survival,
continue the struggle to liberate and uplift humanity
with undying love and gratitude.

"When you have chosen your part, abide by it and do not weakly
try to reconcile yourself to the world. The heroic cannot be the
common, nor the common heroic. Congratulate yourself if you
have done something strange and extravagant, and broken the
monotony of a decorous age."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, On Heroism
"Men make history, but only so much history as it is possible for
them to make."
-C. L. R. James
"A man is worked on by what he works on. He may carve out his
circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well."
-Frederick Douglass
"Mask no difficulties, tell no lies. Claim no easy victories and
hide nothing from the masses of the people."
-Amilcar Cabral, Instructions to His Cadres