West says his Christianity prevented him from joining the BPP, instead choosing to work in local breakfast, prison, and church programs. He credits Harvard with exposing him to a broader range of ideas, influenced by his professors as well as the Black Panther Party. In 1973, West was graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in Near Eastern languages and civilization. In 1970, after graduation from high school, he enrolled at Harvard College and took classes from the philosophers Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. He later wrote that, in his youth, he admired "the sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party, and the livid black theology of James Cone." Īs a young man, West marched in civil rights demonstrations and organized protests demanding black studies courses at his high school, where he was student body president. West Elementary School in Elk Grove, California, is named for his mother. West Sr., was pastor of the Tulsa Metropolitan Baptist Church. His mother, Irene Rayshell (Bias), was a teacher and principal, and his father, Clifton Louis West Jr., was a general contractor for the US Department of Defense. West was born on June 2, 1953, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and grew up in Sacramento, California, where he graduated from John F. In 2020, he was listed by Prospect magazine as the fourth-greatest thinker for the COVID-19 era. George, a prominent conservative intellectual, with the two often speaking together at colleges and universities on the meaning of liberal arts education, free speech, and civil dialogue. He is a frequent conversation partner with his friend Robert P. West co-hosts a podcast, The Tight Rope, with Tricia Rose. West has also made several spoken word and hip hop albums, and due to this work, has been named MTV's Artist of the Week. He has been featured in several documentaries, and made appearances in Hollywood films such as The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, as well as providing commentary for both films. įrom 2010 through 2013, West co-hosted a radio program, Smiley and West, with Tavis Smiley. He is also a frequent commentator on politics and social questions in many media outlets. During his career, he has held professorships and fellowships at Harvard University, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary, Princeton University, Dartmouth College, Pepperdine University, and the University of Paris. West is an outspoken voice in left-wing politics in the United States. Among his most influential books are Race Matters (1994) and Democracy Matters (2004). The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their "radical conditionedness." A socialist, West draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, including Christianity, the Black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism. Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual.
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