“Harlem, New York! Harlem, Detroit! Harlem, Birmingham!”: Liberator Magazine and the Chronicling of Translocal Activism

Abstract

THE LIBERATOR MAGAZINE (not to be confused with the well-known abolitionist newpaper published by William Lloyd Garrison) was on the cutting edge of radical print culture in the 1960s. It was formed in direct response to the assassination of Congolese prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, in 1961. Though a relatively small organ, it attracted important writers and readers from a broad political landscape stretching from anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia, to militant Civil Rights struggle in the US This radical black nationalist magazine lasted from 1961 to 1971, and the years between 1963 and 1967 were a period of significant growth for the publication. It can be said that these were Liberator’s peak years. Dan Watts’s generous editorial policy allowed the journal to attract a new cadre of staff writers such as Askia Toure and Larry Neal to bolster the magazine’s circulation of black radical perspectives, which supplemented the writings of Harold Cruse, Carlos Russell, Selma Sparks and others. This essay argues 1) that the Liberator served as a critical space of translocal political activity, and 2) that its language/political rhetoric functioned dialogically, that is: the way Liberator communicated was as important as the ideological positions it expressed. Its translocality was demonstrated through formal and informal distribution networks connecting local struggles in New York to those in Birmingham, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Accra, Ghana, expanding the circles of activism it grew out of and establishing new connections of its own. In this way, Liberator’s translocalism facilitated its transnationalism. In addition to the numerous articles of political, social and aesthetic commentary by activists and artists published during its tenyear life, Liberator also frequently opened its pages to readers and subscribers from around the countr y, expanding political debate beyond core activists and writers on its editorial staff. In this way, the magazine’s format and its welcoming publishing policy gave voice to and participated in the building of community networks of criticism and activism. The magazine allowed a consistent level of fluid, on-going communication. Readers were introduced to newsworthy events as well as cutting edge political and cultural analysis. Liberator was one of several important publications alongside Freedomways, Correspondence, and Negro Digest/Black World disseminating radical black thought in a political context dominated by American liberalism. Drawing on published and unpublished sources and interviews this essay offers the Liberator magazine as a critical example in the shaping of a radical print culture in the 1960s. Rather than focus explicitly on the magazine’s contents, I am concerned here with how the periodical served and reflected the interests of a translocal political community in multiple political and social contexts. Indeed, how the Liberator communicated was as important as what they communicated. In this sense, I think of the physical space of the urban communities in which this publication was circulated as interwoven with its strategic use of language, which shaped Liberator’s radicalism in important ways.