A conversation with Jack Marchbanks

Join us at our Garfield Heights Branch for a conversation with John Marchbanks, author of "Art and Activism: azz Artists and Writers in the Civil Rights Vanguard."
Register: attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/16000105
Marchbanks is a professional historian, lecturer, and longtime host of Jazz Sunday, a weekly three-hour radio program on 90.5 FM WCBE in Columbus, Ohio. He has written, narrated, and produced nationally broadcast public radio documentaries, including features on Sam Cooke and his hometown funk heroes, the Ohio Players.
"Art and Activism" explores the powerful, symbiotic relationships among artists such as Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Lena Horne and their literary counterparts—Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, and Langston Hughes. These creative figures positioned themselves as cultural thought leaders within the evolving civil rights movement. While the Jim Crow South was the movement’s operational front, Jack Marchbanks argues that New York City’s intellectual, cultural, and fundraising communities functioned as its strategic command center.
Readers who admire jazz legends like Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus—and those fascinated by prominent African American writers like James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison—will discover how these artists intertwined their work with the civil rights struggle. The book examines their involvement in pivotal confrontations and their connections with key leaders such as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Daisy Bates, Ella Baker, and Malcolm X.
By illuminating the intersection of art and activism, this study offers a fresh perspective on the pivotal decade from 1955 to 1965. It is an essential resource for undergraduate courses and an engaging read for anyone seeking to understand the civil rights era through a cultural lens.
Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Mac's Backs - Books on Coventry.