Published in 2024, this book presents the essays of trailblazing political scientist Martin L. Kilson on leading Black intellectuals of the twentieth century. Kilson examines the ideas and careers of several key thinkers, placing their intellectual odysseys in the context of the dynamics that shaped the Black intelligentsia more broadly. He argues that the trajectory of twentieth-century Black intellectuals was determined by the interplay between formal ideas and Black egalitarian struggle.
Join the Friends of the Robbins Library and Marion Kilson in conversation with Hannah Kilson and Sean Osborne as they discuss the significance of Martin Kilson’s timely and engaging insights into the lives and work of pivotal Black intellectuals and activists. The book sheds new light on the abiding questions and debates in Black political thought.
Martin L. Kilson (1931–2019) was Frank G. Thomson Professor of Government Emeritus at Harvard University. He wrote and edited several books, including Transformation of the African American Intelligentsia, 1880–2012 (2014) and A Black Intellectual’s Odyssey: From a Pennsylvania Milltown to the Ivy League (2021). He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Guggenheim Fellow, a member of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a longtime member of the editorial board of Dissent.
This event will take place on Tuesday, February 18, 2025 at 7:00 pm in the Community Room (lower level) of the Robbins Library, 700 Mass. Ave., Arlington. The event is free and open to all.