Richard Iton (September 14, 1961 – April 21, 2013) was a professor of African American studies at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, known for his work on the ways black popular culture forged community and affected politics. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Iton attended

Selwyn House School Selwyn House School (SHS) is an English-language independent K-11 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. The school was founded in 1908 by Englishman Captain Algernon Lucas and was named in honour of Selwyn College at the University of Cam ...

Marianopolis College , mottoeng = "Under the Guidance of Mary" , established = 1908 , type = Private college , endowment = , director = Mr. Christian Corno , provost = E ...

and

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

(BA and MA). He obtained his PhD at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1994 and taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

before joining the political science department at Northwestern. Iton's first book, ''Solidarity Blues: Race, Culture and the American Left'', won the Gustavus Meyer Outstanding Book Award in 2000. He is best known for his book ''In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era'' (Oxford University Press, 2008), which won the Ralph Bunche Award of the American Political Science Association. He was working on a third book at the time of his death of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

References

1961 births 2013 deaths Academics from Montreal Canadian male non-fiction writers Black Canadian writers Writers from Montreal Northwestern University faculty Deaths from leukemia Canadian people of Jamaican descent 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers McGill University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni {{academic-stub