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Russell J. Rickford
Born
Guyana
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
Disciplinehistory
InstitutionsCornell University
Main interests
  • black radical tradition
  • black liberal culture after World War II
Notable works
Websitehttps://history.cornell.edu/russell-rickford

Russell John Rickford (born c. 1975[1]) is an American scholar and activist who is an associate professor in the History Department at Cornell University. He has written the only in-depth biography on Betty Shabazz, the wife of Malcolm X.

Rickford's research focuses on the black radical tradition and on black liberal culture after World War II. He lectures on American social and political history, among other subjects.[2]

Early life and education

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Born in Guyana, Rickford grew up in Palo Alto, California.[1] His mother, Angela E. Rickford, is a professor of Special Education at San Jose State University[3] and the author of I Can Fly: Teaching Narratives and Reading Comprehension to African Americans and other Ethnic Minority Students.[4] His father, John R. Rickford, an authority on African-American Vernacular English and the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, teaches linguistics at Stanford University.[1]

Rickford attended Gunn High School in Palo Alto and won a National Merit Scholarship.[1][5]

He went on to study journalism at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he also served as Alpha Phi Alpha president for two years and wrote for The Hilltop.[6] Rickford earned his bachelor's degree magna cum laude in 1997.[1][6]

Career

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Rickford began his career as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer[7] and went on to work for a public-relations firm in Philadelphia.[citation needed]

Early works

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In 1998, he began doing research for his biography on Betty Shabazz.[8] In 2000, Rickford and his father co-wrote Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, a book about African-American Vernacular English[9] which won the American Book Award.[10] The term "Spoken Soul" was coined by author Claude Brown in the 1960s and pays homage to the rhythmic, poetic qualities of African-American English.[11]

In 2001,[8] Rickford left his job in Philadelphia and moved into his parents' garage to write the first, and to date only, in-depth biography of Betty Shabazz.[5] An effort that spanned five and a half years, Betty Shabazz: A Remarkable Story of Survival and Faith Before and After Malcolm X was published in 2003.[8] Writing in The Crisis, William Jelani Cobb called Rickford's work "a thorough, insightful and engaging book, befitting its enigmatic—and ultimately heroic—subject".[7]

Academia

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In 2002, Rickford enrolled at Columbia University, studying for a master's degree in African-American studies under Manning Marable.[12][13] Between 2003 and 2004, he contributed research to Marable's Malcolm X Project and, according to Marable, "was instrumental in setting up many oral histories and interviews" with Malcolm X's contemporaries.[14] Marable credited Rickford with coining the term "Malcolmology" to describe the way in which African Americans rediscovered Malcolm X as a cultural icon after he was embraced by major hip-hop artists of the 1980s and 1990s.[15] Rickford completed his doctorate in history at Columbia in 2009.[13] His dissertation won that year's Bancroft Dissertation Award. His research concerns African-American politics after the Civil Rights Movement. In an interview, he said he was trying to answer the question, "Why did black nationalism become increasingly conservative towards the end of the 20th century?"[16]

Rickford joined the Dartmouth faculty in 2009,[16] moving to Cornell in 2014. In early 2011, he edited a collection of writings by Marable entitled Beyond Boundaries.[17] Described by his former mentor as "one of the most talented and insightful" members of a new generation of black intellectuals,[18] In 2016, Rickford completed a history of Pan-Africanist private schools during the Black Power era titled We Are an African People: Independent Education, Black Power, and the Radical Imagination.[2]

Controversy

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In October 2023, a video was publicized of Rickford speaking at an October 15 rally in support of Palestinians after the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel,[19][20] where according to The Telegraph, he referred to the massacre of more than 1,400 Israelis on Oct 7 by the terrorist group as a "challenge to the monopoly of violence."[21] He also said "It was exhilarating".[21][20][22] Cornell officials condemned his remarks.[20][19][23][22]

On October 18, The Cornell Daily Sun published a letter of apology for his "horrible choice of words" in a speech he claimed was intended "to stress grassroots African American, Jewish and Palestinian traditions of resistance to oppression."[24][25][22] By October 20, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney had called for Rickford to be fired.[25][26] Rickford took a leave of absence, resuming teaching the following year.[27]

Personal life

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Rickford was introduced to his wife by Manning Marable[12] when they were both working as research assistants for Marable's Malcolm X Project.[28]

Works

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  • Rickford, John R.; Rickford, Russell J. (2000). Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-32356-3.
  • Rickford, Russell J. (2003). Betty Shabazz: A Remarkable Story of Survival and Faith Before and After Malcolm X. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks. ISBN 978-1-4022-0171-4.
  • Rickford, Russell J., ed. (2011). Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader. Herndon, Va.: Paradigm. ISBN 978-1-59451-861-4.
  • Rickford, Russell J. (2016). We Are an African People: Independent Education, Black Power, and the Radical Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-986147-7.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Nakao, Annie (February 22, 2004). "Pride and prejudice / A young author looks back at the tragedy -- and triumph -- of Betty Shabazz's life". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Russell Rickford | Department of History". history.cornell.edu. Archived from the original on November 1, 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  3. ^ "San Jose State University Directory". San Jose State University. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
  4. ^ "Bio. Angela E. Rickford" (PDF). Hong Kong Baptist University. November 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 6, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  5. ^ a b Eymer, Rick (February 6, 2004). "More than a widow". Palo Alto Weekly. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  6. ^ a b Rickford, John Russell (January 22, 2000). "Why Spoken Soul means more to me than any book I've written". AALBC.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2023. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  7. ^ a b Cobb, William Jelani (March–April 2004). "Betty Shabazz: Uncovering the Woman Behind the Widow Veil". The Crisis. p. 52. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Trotz, Maya (January 2004). "Russell Rickford". Jouvay.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  9. ^ Wagner, Venise (April 30, 2000). "Father and son authors make case for acceptance of Ebonics". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved November 26, 2011.[dead link‍]
  10. ^ American Booksellers Association (2013). "The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation [1980–2012]". BookWeb. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013. 2000 [...] Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English, John Russell Rickford and Russell John Rickford
  11. ^ John R. Rickford; Russell John Rickford (2000). Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English. John Wiley and Sons. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-471-32356-3. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  12. ^ a b Rickford, Russell (April 4, 2011). "A Eulogy for Manning Marable". The Root. Retrieved April 29, 2018.
  13. ^ a b "What Matters to Me and Why?". Dartmouth College. January 18, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-01-21. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  14. ^ Manning Marable (April 4, 2011). Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Penguin Books Ltd. p. 492. ISBN 978-0-7139-9895-5. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  15. ^ Marable, Manning (Winter 2005). "Rediscovering Malcolm X's Life: A Historian's Adventures in Living History" (PDF). Souls. pp. 24–29. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  16. ^ a b Baum, Ann (November 10, 2009). "Despite cuts new profs. join College faculty". The Dartmouth. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  17. ^ Watson, Jamal Eric (April 5, 2011). "Manning Marable Remembered as Public Intellectual and Activist". Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  18. ^ Manning Marable (April 30, 2011). Russell Rickford (ed.). Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader. Paradigm Publishers. p. vii. ISBN 978-1-59451-861-4. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  19. ^ a b Quinn, Ryan (October 18, 2023). "Cornell Leaders Condemn Prof. 'Exhilarated' by Hamas Attack". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Anderson, Nick (18 October 2023). "War in Mideast inflames college campuses and raises fears of antisemitism". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  21. ^ a b Nanu, Maighna (17 October 2023). "Ivy League professor: Hamas attack was 'exhilarating'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  22. ^ a b c Touré, Madina; Cordero, Katelyn (21 October 2023). "Why colleges are struggling with their response to the Israel-Hamas war". Politico. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  23. ^ Levenson, Eric (19 October 2023). "Debate over the Israel-Gaza war has raised tensions -- and the stakes -- on college campuses". CNN. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  24. ^ Bandler, Aaron (20 October 2023). "Cornell Professor Apologizes for Calling Hamas Terror Attack "Exhilarating"". The Jewish Journal. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  25. ^ a b Lapin, Andrew (20 October 2023). "Cornell professor apologizes for saying he was 'exhilarated' by Hamas attack, as campus Israel battles continue". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  26. ^ Saffer, Matthew (18 October 2023). "New York senator calls for firing of Cornell University professor". WSTM. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  27. ^ Reschini, Rodge (21 October 2023). "BREAKING | Rickford takes leave of absence". The Cornell Review. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  28. ^ The Malcolm X Project. "About the MXP. Staff". Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Columbia University. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
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