Ekwueme Michael Thelwell (born Michael Miles Thelwell; 25 July 1939) is a Jamaican novelist, essayist, professor and civil rights activist. He was in 1970 founding chairman of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Early life

Born Michael Miles Thelwell in Ulster Spring, Jamaica, he attended Jamaica College and subsequently worked as public relations assistant for the Jamaica Industrial Development Corporation (1958–59). In 1959 he moved to the United States, where he was educated at Howard University (earning a BA, 1964) and at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (MFA, 1969).

Activism

Thelwell was active in the Black Freedom Movement, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), and in 1963 he was the Director of the Washington office of the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

( SNCC). In the 1980s his anti-apartheid activism resulted in legislation enacting a law against corporate tax write-offs for US-based corporations paying taxes to the apartheid regime in South Africa.
In a 2005 radio interview with Amy Goodman of '' Democracy Now!'', Thelwell said: "I didn’t really become black until I set foot in this country (America)."

Writing

Thelwell is widely known for his 1980 novel ''The Harder They Come'', based on the film of the same title about the life and death of real-life Jamaican folk-hero Ivanhoe "

Rhyging Vincent "Ivanhoe" Martin (19249 September 1948), known as "Rhyging", was a Jamaican criminal who became a legendary outlaw and folk hero, often regarded as the "original rude boy". He became notorious in 1948 after escaping from prison, going on ...

" Martin. The novel was praised by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (who bestowed on Thelwell the Igbo name Ekwueme, meaning "the man who always does what he says he will")Mary Ann French. "The People's Professor," ''Boston Globe'', 12 September 1999. and by literary critic Harold Bloom, who included it in his appendix to ''The Western Canon''. Thelwell has also published essays, criticism and commentary in ''

The Black Scholar ''The Black Scholar'' (''TBS''), the third-oldest journal of Black culture and political thought in the United States, was founded in 1969 near San Francisco, California, by Robert Chrisman, Nathan Hare, and Allan Ross. It is arguably the most in ...

'', '' The New York Times'', '' Village Voice'', '' The Massachusetts Review'', ''

Temps Modernes ''Les Temps Modernes'' (''Modern Times'') is a French journal, founded by Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It first issue was published in October 1945. It was named after the 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin. ''L ...

'', '' Partisan Review'', ''

Présence Africaine ''Présence Africaine'' is a pan-African quarterly cultural, political, and literary magazine, published in Paris, France, and founded by Alioune Diop in 1947. In 1949, ''Présence Africaine'' expanded to include a publishing house and a bookstore ...

'' (Paris) and ''African Commentary''. A volume of his short stories and essays, ''Duties, Pleasures, and Conflicts: Essays in Struggle'', was released in 1987. He also helped prepare and edit the political memoirs of black activist Stokely Carmichael, ''Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael'' (2003). Thelwell is currently writing a critical study of Chinua Achebe, who dedicated his 1988 collection of essays ''

Hopes and Impediments ''Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, 1965-1987'' is collection of essays by Chinua Achebe, published in 1988.Achebe, Chinua (1988) ''Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, 1965-1987''. Heinemann, Several of the essays caution against gene ...

'' to Thelwell. Thelwell has also written two screenplays (''Washington Incident'', 1972; ''Girl Beneath the Lion'', 1978, with

Paul Carter Harrison Paul Carter Harrison (March 1, 1936 – December 27, 2021) was an American playwright and professor. Harrison was known for works such as his Obie Award winning play ''The Great MacDaddy'' and scholarly writings on theater and performance. Betwee ...

). He was a senior adviser on the television series ''

Eyes on the Prize ''Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Movement'' is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the 20th-century civil rights movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network, and it also ...

'' (part II; 1990).

Awards

Literary awards Thelwell has received include fellowships from the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

, the Society for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Centennial Medal of the Institute of Jamaica.

References

External links

Michael Thelwell - Giants in the Earth
YouTube.
''Who Speaks for the Negro'' Vanderbilt documentary website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thelwell, Ekwueme Michael Living people 20th-century American novelists African-American academics African-American novelists American male novelists Emigrants from British Jamaica to the United States Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1939 births Howard University alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Jamaican male novelists Jamaican activists 20th-century Jamaican novelists 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Massachusetts 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American people African-American male writers