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This unique comic by Milton Knight illuminates the early years of C.L.R. James (1901–1989), known in much later years as the "last great Pan-Africanist." The son of a provincial school administrator in British-governed Trinidad, James disappointed his family by embracing the culture and passions of the colonial underclass, Carnival and cricket. He joined the literary avant-garde of the island before leaving for Britain. In the UK, James swiftly became a beloved cricket journalist, playwright for his close friend Paul Robeson, and a pathbreaking scholar of black history with
The Black Jacobins (1938), the first history of the Haitian revolt.
The artistic skills of Milton Knight, at once acute and provocative, bring out James’s unique personality, how it arose, and how he became a world figure.
About the author
Paul Buhle introduced James's work to the New Left via
Radical America in the later 1960s.
Milton Knight's work has appeared in outlets such as
Heavy Metal,
High Times, and
National Lampoon.
Lawrence Ware writes and comments widely on race, sports, and culture in many publications, including
New Black Man (In Exile),
Counterpunch, Democratic Left, Huffington Post Live, and
NPR.
Summary
This unique comic by Milton Knight illuminates the early years of C.L.R. James (1901–1989), known in much later years as the “last great Pan-Africanist.” The son of a provincial school administrator in British-governed Trinidad, James disappointed his family by embracing the culture and passions of the colonial underclass, Carnival and cricket. He joined the literary avant-garde of the island before leaving for Britain. In the UK, James swiftly became a beloved cricket journalist, playwright for his close friend Paul Robeson, and a pathbreaking scholar of black history with The Black Jacobins (1938), the first history of the Haitian revolt.
The artistic skills of Milton Knight, at once acute and provocative, bring out James’s unique personality, how it arose, and how he became a world figure.
