Brian Jones (activist)

Last updated

Brian P. Jones is an American educator, scholar, activist, and actor. He is the inaugural director [1] of the Center for Educators and Schools of The New York Public Library, and formerly the associate director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, [2] where he was also a scholar in residence. [3] Jones earned a PhD in Urban Education from the CUNY Graduate Center and has contributed to several books on issues of racism, inequality, and Black education history, most recently to Black Lives Matter At School: An Uprising for Educational Justice. [4] He is the author of The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History , which won the 2023 Nonfiction Literary Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. [5]

Jones is a long time member of the board of directors of Voices of a Peoples History of the United States, founded by Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn to organize and promote public performances of primary texts from radical American history. [6] In addition to his role as a director, Jones also often serves as an educator [7] and as a performer. [8] Jones' collaboration with Arnove and Zinn dates back to his nationwide of tour of Zinn's one-man play Marx in Soho , in which Jones played the title role. [9] He has also lent his voice to other projects, such as The Flores Exhibits (a series of short videos amplifying the voices of children held in detention facilities at the U.S. / Mexico Border) [10] and he has narrated more than twenty audiobooks, including Hegemony or Survival, [11] Detroit, I Do Mind Dying, [12] and Marx in Soho. [13]

A teacher of elementary grades in the New York City Public Schools for 9 years, Jones has been a prominent critic of school privatization. He co-narrated the independent film "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman", which challenged the ideas of the 2010 documentary Waiting for "Superman".

In 2014, Jones ran for Lieutenant Governor of New York alongside Howie Hawkins on the Green Party of New York ticket. [14] They received 184,419 votes (4.86%), which was more than enough for the party to retain statewide recognition. Jones was a member of the International Socialist Organization, which dissolved in early 2019.

Jones has been published in a wide variety of media including The New York Times , [15] The Guardian , [16] Socialist Worker, [17] Jacobin, [18] and Chalkbeat . [19] He is married to theatre, television, and film actor Susan Pourfar.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Zinn</span> American historian and socialist thinker (1922–2010)

Howard Zinn was an American historian, playwright, philosopher, socialist intellectual and World War II veteran. He was chair of the history and social sciences department at Spelman College, and a political science professor at Boston University. Zinn wrote more than 20 books, including his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United States in 1980. In 2007, he published a version of it for younger readers, A Young People's History of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Public Library</span> Public library system in New York City

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arturo Alfonso Schomburg</span> Puerto Rican historian, writer and activist

Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, was a historian, writer, bibliophile, collector, and activist. He also wrote many books. Schomburg was a Puerto Rican of African and German descent. He moved to the United States in 1891, where he researched and raised awareness of the contributions that Afro-Latin Americans and African Americans have made to society. He was an important intellectual figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Over the years, he collected literature, art, slave narratives, and other materials of African history, which were purchased to become the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, named in his honor, at the New York Public Library (NYPL) branch in Harlem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Marx</span> American academic (born 1959)

Anthony William "Tony" Marx is an American academic. He became the president and CEO of the New York Public Library in July 2011, succeeding Paul LeClerc. Marx is the former president of Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Since joining the New York Public Library, Marx has focused on expanding the library’s education programs and on increasing public access to library e-books. He has also prioritized services for researchers and bringing library materials to public schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture</span> Public research library in New York City

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard between West 135th and 136th Streets in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it has, almost from its inception, been an integral part of the Harlem community. It is named for Afro-Puerto Rican scholar Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Negro Theatre</span> Community theater group in Harlem

The American Negro Theatre (ANT) was co-founded on June 5, 1940 by playwright Abram Hill and actor Frederick O'Neal. Determined to build a "people's theatre", they were inspired by the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit in Harlem and by W. E. B. Du Bois' "four fundamental principles" of Black drama: that it should be by, about, for, and near African Americans.

Voices of a People's History of the United States (ISBN 978-1583229163) is an anthology edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. First released in 2004 by Seven Stories Press, Voices is the primary source companion to Zinn's A People's History of the United States. The book parallels A People's History in structure and is made up of various primary sources with short introductions to those sources.

<i>The People Speak</i> (film) 2009 American film

The People Speak is a 2009 American documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans. The film gives voice to those who, by insisting on equality and justice, spoke up for social change throughout U.S. history and also illustrates the relevance of this to today's society.

Marx in Soho is a 1999 one-man play written by American historian Howard Zinn, about the life of 19th-century philosopher Karl Marx. Zinn wrote the play to "show Marx as few people knew him, as a family man, struggling to support his wife and children." The play is set in the New York City neighborhood of Soho, a humorous nod to the London neighborhood of the same name in which Marx spent much of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara M. Watson</span> American diplomat

Barbara Mae Watson was a lawyer, United States diplomat, Ambassador to Malaysia, and the first Black person and the first woman to serve as an Assistant Secretary of State.

<i>Jacobin</i> (magazine) American socialist magazine

Jacobin is an American socialist magazine based in New York. As of 2023, the magazine reported a paid print circulation of 75,000 and over 3 million monthly visitors.

<i>A Peoples History of the United States</i> 1980 history book by Howard Zinn

A People's History of the United States is a 1980 nonfiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn presented what he considered to be a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen as the exploitation and manipulation of the majority by rigged systems that hugely favor a small aggregate of elite rulers from across the orthodox political parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Blackwell Hutson</span> Librarian and archivist

Jean Blackwell Hutson was an American librarian, archivist, writer, curator, educator, and later chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The Schomburg Center dedicated their Research and Reference Division in honor of Hutson.

Kara Tucina Olidge is a scholar, arts and educational administrator and the executive director of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University. The Amistad Research Center is the nation's oldest, largest, and most comprehensive independent archive specializing in the history of African Americans and other ethnic minorities. Before this position, she was the deputy director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a branch of the New York Public Library based in Harlem. The Schomburg is one of the world's leading research facilities dedicated to the history of the African diaspora. Before joining the Schomburg in 2012, Olidge was the director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a nonprofit organization serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth in Newark, NJ. Olidge specializes in art and educational administration and leadership and has led educational institutions and community-based organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maritcha Remond Lyons</span> American educator, civic leader, writer (1848–1929)

Maritcha Remond Lyons was an American educator, civic leader, suffragist, and public speaker in New York City and Brooklyn, New York. She taught in public schools in Brooklyn for 48 years, and was the second black woman to serve in their system as an assistant principal. In 1892, Lyons cofounded the Women's Loyal Union of New York and Brooklyn, one of the first women's rights and racial justice organizations in the United States. One of the accomplishments of the Women's Loyal Union was to help to fund the printing of an important antilynching pamphlet, Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay Men of African Descent</span>

Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) is the largest and oldest African American organization dedicated exclusively to the well being of Black gay men. GMAD was founded in 1986 in New York City by the Reverend Charles Angel. The group worked to address the unique issues to Black gay men in America through educational, social, and political mobilization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernestine Rose (librarian)</span> 20th-century American librarian

Ernestine Rose was a librarian at the New York Public Library responsible for the purchase and incorporation of the Arthur A. Schomburg collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Allen Latimer</span> American librarian

Catherine Allen Latimer was the New York Public Library's first African-American librarian. She was a notable authority on bibliographies of African-American life and instrumental in forming the library's Division of Negro History, Literature and Prints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendell L. Wray</span> Librarian and educator

Wendell L. Wray was an American librarian and educator who was dedicated to preserving African-American history through oral history. He was a professor at the University of Pittsburgh from 1973 to 1988, with a break from 1981 to 1983 while he served as the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The Negro Society for Historical Research (NSHR) was an organization founded by John Edward Bruce and Arthur Alfonso Schomburg in 1911.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to NYPL's Center for Educators and Schools". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  2. ↑ "Contact Information for Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  3. ↑ "Past Fellows: Schomburg Center Scholars-in-Residence Program". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  4. ↑ "Brian Jones | New York Public Library - Academia.edu". nypl.academia.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  5. ↑ "BCALA Announces the 2023 Literary Awards Winners" (PDF). Black Caucus of the American Library Association (Press release). January 2023. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  6. ↑ "Board | Voices of a People's History of the US". peopleshistory.us. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  7. ↑ "Voices of a People's History at the Maxine Greene High School for Imaginative Inquiry". YouTube . August 4, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-24.
  8. ↑ "Brian Jones reads Frederick Douglass". YouTube . January 28, 2008. Archived from the original on 2020-07-05.
  9. ↑ "Brian Jones in Howard Zinn's play, Marx in Soho". Lannan Foundation. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  10. ↑ "The Flores Exhibits | Waterwell" . Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  11. ↑ Hegemony or Survival.
  12. ↑ Detroit: I Do Mind Dying.
  13. ↑ Marx in Soho.
  14. ↑ Tarleton, John (May 13, 2014). "NYC Educator Runs for Lt. Gov: An Interview with Brian Jones". The Indypendent . Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  15. ↑ Jones, Brian (June 12, 2014). "Protections of Teacher Tenure Do Not Hurt Students". The New York Times . Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  16. ↑ Jones, Brian (2018-06-06). "Growing up black in America: here's my story of everyday racism | Brian Jones". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  17. ↑ "Brian Jones SocialistWorker.org" . Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Brian Jones". Jacobin Magazine . Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  19. ↑ Erickson, Ansley; Jones, Brian; Sanchez, Adam (2018-05-17). "As historians and New York City educators, here's what we hope teachers hear in the city's new anti-bias training". Chalkbeat New York. Archived from the original on 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.