William Strickland, the civil rights advocate best known for collaborating with Malcolm X and other prominent black leaders in the 1960s, passed away this week due to injuries sustained during a fall at the age of 87.
Strickland began his work in civil rights as a child in Massachusetts. While attending Harvard University as an undergraduate, Strickland was inspired by the writings of Richard Wright and James Baldwin.
In the early 1960s, Strickland joined the Boston chapter of the Northern Student Movement, an organization that offered support for sit-ins and other protests in the South. By 1963, William had become the group’s executive director and a supporter of the ongoing Black Power movement.
During this time, Strickland collaborated with some of the most prominent figures in the civil rights movement, such asMalcolm X and James Baldwin, to organize rent strikes, school boycotts, and protests against police brutality in New York.
William was not only appreciated for his organizational skills but also for his talent in simplifying complex issues,making them easily comprehensible for large audiences.
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Strickland co-founded the Institute of the Black World, which served as a gathering place for black intellectuals.
After working in the field, Strickland began teaching political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he dedicated forty years to his career. William not only taught but also served as the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers.
“As a teacher, that is how he taught us to think as students — to be able to understand and deconstruct racism, capitalism, imperialism and to be fearless in doing so and not being afraid to name the systems that we’re confronting as a means of developing a strategy to challenge them,”
“He always spoke truth to power. That was the type of guy he was,”
“Sometimes it may have embarrassed some people or whatever but his truth was his truth. His knowledge was his knowledge and he was not the type of person as the saying goes to bite his tongue.”
Express and Star
Rest in peace!
