Fighting for Our Place in the Sun

Scholar, author, advocate, Richard D. Benson II earned a PhD in educational policy studies from the University of
Illinois-at Urbana Champaign. He travels frequently as a guest lecturer speaking on topics such as the black student movement, and school-community advocacy. Benson resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is Assistant Professor in the Education Studies Program at Spelman College.

In Fighting for Our Place in the Sun, Richard D. Benson II examines the life of Malcolm X as not only a radical political figure, but also as a teacher and mentor. The book illuminates the untold tenets of Malcolm X's educational philosophy, and also traces a historical trajectory of Black activists that sought to create spaces of liberation and learning that are free from cultural and racial oppression. It explains a side of the Black student movement and shift in black power that develops as a result of the student protests in North Carolina and Duke University. From these acts of radicalism, Malcolm X Liberation University (MXLU), the Student Organization for Black Unity (SOBU/YOBU), and African Liberation Day (ALD) were produced to serve as catalysts to extend the tradition of Black activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Scholars, researchers, community organizers, and students of African-American studies, American studies, history of education, political science, Pan-African studies, and more will benefit from this provocative and enlightening text.

In Fighting for Our Place in the Sun, Richard D. Benson II examines the life of Malcolm X as not only a radical political figure, but also as a teacher and mentor. The book illuminates the untold tenets of Malcolm X's educational philosophy, and also traces a historical trajectory of Black activists that sought to create spaces of liberation and learning that are free from cultural and racial oppression.

Contents: Malcolm X and/as Social Pedagogy: A Critical Historical Analysis - Sowing the Wind to Reap a Whirlwind: Ideological Shifts and Radical Expressions in the Black Student Movement, 1963-1966 - Purges, Proscriptions, and New Directions: Black Student Protests and a Call for a Black University, 1966-1969 - Uhuru Na Kazi (Freedom and Hard Work)! The Historical Developments of Malcolm X Liberation University, 1969-1972 - Malcolm X Liberation University: Planning, Curriculum, Projects, and Institutional Objectives - Working for African Liberation with the Student Organization for Black Unity: Historical Developments, Programs, and Activity, 1969-1971 - A Movement of the People ... African People: African Liberation Day, the Decline of MXLU, and Left Pan-Africanism of YOBU, 1972-1973.