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While the phrase “black power” is often associated with the Black Panther Party, credit for popularizing it in the American lexicon actually goes to a civil rights icon named Stokely Carmichael. Representing a new generation in the mid-60s that was more militant than the activism of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, Stokely Carmichael became a household name.

But just as sharp was his rise to fame in the US, so was his evolution into a pan-Africanist leader soon after. Carmichael moved to Guinea, changed his name to Kwame Ture, and continued his activism until his death in 1998.

Now, the definitive biography of Stokely Carmichael by Professor Peniel Joseph traces the life of one of the most important figures of the American civil rights movement. Joseph writes in his book, entitled simply “Stokely: A Life,” that Carmichael “helped to organize and participate in every major civil rights demonstration and development in America between 1960 – 1965,” and yet, he remains “today largely forgotten.”

GUEST: Peniel Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life, Professor of History and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University, and an alumnus Caperton Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center. He is also the author of the award-winning Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour, and Dark Days, Bright Nights

Prof. Joseph will be speaking about his book Stokely: A Life at Eso won Books this Friday at 5 pm, 4327 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, and on Monday at Occidental College at 7 pm.