Visit West End Library for an Author Talk with local writer\, producer and author\, Norman Kelley!
\nIn this t alk\, Mr. Kelley will explore two Caribbean-born figures who became centra l to Black political life in the United States: Marcus Garvey and Harry Be lafonte.
\nGarvey built the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)\, the largest early 20th century Black mass movement\, while Belafo nte later used his fame and resources to bolster Martin Luther King Jr.\, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)\, and the wider civil rights movement. The talk asks a rarely considered question: why did movem ents so reliant on Black music never develop music-based political organiz ations that could turn cultural power into lasting political and economic institutions?
\nExploring Garvey&rsquo\;s bands\, choirs\, Liberty H alls\, and business ventures\, alongside Belafonte&rsquo\;s fundraising ne tworks and ties to Hollywood and political power in Washington\, the lectu re considers what an organized musical infrastructure might have made poss ible&mdash\;from UNIA-linked music schools\, to a coordinated performance circuit\, to a permanent organization built around the principle of &ldquo \;concerts by night\, organizing workshops by day.&rdquo\; Kelley's claim is not that music alone could have overcome racism or internal conflict\; instead\, he examines how an existing cultural economy might have been con verted into collective political capacity and durable Black institutions.< /p>\n
Norman Kelley is the author of The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics (Nation Books\, 2004) and the editor of R&\;B (Rhythm and Business): The P olitical Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books\, 2002). His fiction i ncludes Black Heat\, The Big Mango\, and A Phat Deat h. He produced and directed the documentary How Washington Really Works: Charlie Peters and the Washington Monthly (2013)\, created th e podcast series From Black Power to Black Trauma (2023)\, and ha s appeared on NPR&rsquo\;s Tavis Smiley and C-SPAN&rsquo\;s W ashington Journal. Kelley was also featured in Paid in Full: The Battle for Black Music\, a BBC/CBC documentary executive produced by Idris Elba. This lecture series draws from his research for his current pr oject An Industry Beneath Their Feet: The Mismanagement and Exploitati on of Black Music.
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