African People, Education for Liberation & Staying Human: Reflections on Walter Rodney and the Pan-African / Black Liberation Tradition

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/jinte.2.1.0031
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• Pages: 31-40
• Author: Joyce E. King
• Subject Matter: pedagogy,Walter Rodney,black liberation tradition,guerrilla intellectual

The Journal of Intersectionality

31Volume Two, Number One

African People, Educaon for Liberaon & Staying

Human: Reecons on Walter Rodney and the Pan-

African / Black Liberaon Tradion

Dr. Joyce E. King

Georgia State University

Abstract: On March 25th, 2017, Dr. Joyce E. King delivered this talk as the day two keynote of the

14th Annual Walter Rodney Symposium at the Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodru Library,

Atlanta, Georgia.

Keywords: pedagogy, Walter Rodney, black liberation tradition, guerrilla intellectual

Introducon

To the Rodney family and friends: I am honored to have been invited to participate in this

year’s symposium. In addition to remembering Dr. Walter Rodney’s birthday, today is the

10th anniversary of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Enslavement

and the Transatlantic Trade. In 2007, the United Nations designated March 25th as a Day

of Remembrance to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

The Inter national Day, observed annually on 25 March, oers the opportunity to honor and

remember those who suered and died at the hands of the brutal slavery system and aims

to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice. The UN program’s theme for

2017 is “Remember Slavery: Recognizing the Legacy and Contributions of People of African

Descent.” As stated on the website:

It urges remembrance of the fact that the transatlantic slave trade,

while forming a very dark chapter in human history, also led to an

unprecedented transfer of knowledge and culture from Africa to the

Americas, Europe, and elsewhere.1

Walter Rodney Speaks: Three Key Points

In the Introduction to Walter Rodney Speaks—the record of Rodney’s participation in an Institute

of the Black World Roundtable discussion with Vincent Harding, Robert Hill, and William

Strickland in 1975—Howard Dodson stresses our collective responsibility for Walter Rodney’s

legacy: to promote the continuing study of his life and make what we learned from Rodney

available for study and careful assessment.2 In his broader discussion of race and class in Black

1 United Nations n.d.

2 Rodney 1990, White 2011.