Fidel and Malcolm: Memories of a Meeting - Softcover

Mealy, Rosemari

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1574780581 ISBN 13: 9781574780581

Publisher: Black Classic Press, 2013

Synopsis

More than five decades have lapsed since September 1960, when African American Muslim leader Malcolm X welcomed Cuban President Fidel Castro to a midnight meeting at Harlem s Black-owned Hotel Theresa. Castro and his delegation had come to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, but the management of the Manhattan hotel they had booked refused to house them. Upon learning of their plight, Malcolm invited the Cuban emissaries to come uptown to Harlem, where he claimed they would be greeted with open arms.

Indeed, Harlemites by the thousands gave Castro a rousing, even magnificent welcome, keeping a round-the-clock vigil in the pouring rain outside his balcony window. To Harlem s masses, unfazed by the red baiting and anti-Cuba hysteria of the day, Castro was that bearded revolutionary who had told White America to go to hell. They crowded the streets to see and cheer the Cuban delegation and its then thirty-four-year-old revolutionary leader.

Sadly, however, little is said, even today, about the far-reaching conversations that took place between Malcolm and Fidel that September evening. Only three newsmen were allowed to join them: two representatives and a photographer from the Negro press. They noted that the two leaders exchanged pleasantries, then spoke candidly, through their interpreters, about self-determination and national liberation. Though language differences proved a formidable barrier, author Rosemari Mealy maintains that the respect that both men expressed towards each other...solidified the ties of friendship between the Cuban revolution and the relentless struggles of the African American people.

In this slim yet significant volume, Mealy, along with contributors Elombe Brath, LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Sarah E. Wright, and Bill Epton, compile the recollections of a number of persons who played important roles in this historic summit. They add to these their own perspectives as historians, poets, journalists, and political activists on the two leaders and the revolutionary movements they spawned. The combined reflections, coupled with Malcolm s and Fidel s own writings about the encounter and rare photographs of the two men together, yield an authentic accounting of a remarkable meeting of the minds.

About this title

About the Author:

Rosemari Mealy is Adjunct Assistant Professor at City College of NY (CUNY) Center for Worker Education. Professor Mealy has been honored for her community involvement on numerous occasions and was the recipient of the prestigious Claudia Jones Fellow in the African New World Studies Program at Florida International University (Miami). Mealy has lived and worked in Cuba where she collaborated on several projects in support of US political prisoners with Assata Shakur. She is also an activist in the International Human rights and political prisoner movement.

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Classic Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1574780581
• ISBN 13: 9781574780581
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 86