Julius Bernard Lester (January 27, 1939 – January 18, 2018) was an American writer of books for children and adults and an academic who taught for 32 years (1971–2003) at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

. Lester was also a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

activist, a photographer, and a musician who recorded two albums of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and original songs.

Early life and family

Born on January 27, 1939, St. Louis, Missouri, Julius Lester was the son of W. D. Lester, a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister, and Julia (Smith) Lester. In 1941, the family moved to

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

, and then to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

in 1952. In 1960 he received his BA from

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

in Nashville, Tennessee, with a major in English and minors in Art and Spanish. In 1961 he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where he was a folk singer and a photographer for 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 segreg ...

. Lester married Joan Steinau in 1962. They had two children, Jody Simone (1965) and Malcolm Coltrane (1967). They divorced in 1970. In 1979 he married Alida Carolyn Fechner, who had a daughter, Elena Milad. Fechner and Lester had a son together named David Julius. They divorced in 1991. He married Milan Sabatini in 1995. His stepdaughter from this marriage is Lián Amaris.

Civil rights years

During college, Lester became involved in the

(SNCC). Among his major efforts in those years was participation in the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project. His experiences during "

Freedom Summer Freedom Summer, also known as the Freedom Summer Project or the Mississippi Summer Project, was a volunteer campaign in the United States launched in June 1964 to attempt to register as many African-American voters as possible in Mississippi. ...

" were documented in a 2014 documentary ''The Folk Singer'', which aired as part of the ''

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

'' series on PBS. Lester also traveled to

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

with SNCC to photograph and write about the damage caused by U.S. bombing missions there. During his New York years, Lester hosted ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'', a radio show on

WBAI-FM WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music ...

(1968–75); and co-hosted (with Jonathan Black) ''Free Time'', a television show on WNET-NY (Channel 13), for two years. He recorded two albums of traditional and original songs for

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

: ''Julius Lester'' (1966) and ''Departures'' (1967). And he performed on the coffeehouse circuit. A compilation of songs from both albums was released on a CD, ''Dressed Like Freedom'', on Ace Records in 2007. Lester's 1966 essay "The Angry Children of

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

," is considered one of the definitive

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

statements of its era. As his reputation grew, Lester wrote ''Look Out, Whitey! Black Power's Gon' Get Your Mama!'' (Dial, 1968), which he characterized as the "first book about the black power movement by someone inside the black power movement".

Conversion to Judaism

In 1982 Lester converted to Judaism."Julius Lester: There's 'no magic formula' for blacks and Jews"
''J'' (jweekly.com). February 16, 1996. San Francisco Jewish Community Publications Inc. Retrieved 2015-09-11. He has said that his conversion journey began when he was seven and learned that his maternal great-grandfather, Adolph Altschul, was a Jewish immigrant from Germany, who married a freed slave. He adopted the Hebrew name Yaakov Daniel ben Avraham v’Sarah. He was a leader of the Beth El Synagogue in St. Johnsbury, Vermont from 1991-2001.

Academic career

From 1968 to 1970, alongside his activities as a radio host in New York, Lester taught Afro-American history at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...

. In 1971 he began teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a visiting lecturer in the Afro-American Studies department; he became an associate professor in the department in 1975 and a full professor in 1977.Obituary: Julius Lester, Professor Emeritus of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies
. University of Massachusetts Amherst. umass.edu. January 19, 2018. Retrieved 2018-01-21. In 1988, Lester came into conflict with his colleagues in the Afro-American Studies department upon the publication of his book ''Lovesong'', which chronicles his conversion to Judaism. In the book he refers to a lecture at the university by the renowned author

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...

several years earlier, and characterizes certain remarks that Baldwin made as

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

Fox, Margalit Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of ''The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituarie ...

(January 19, 2018).
Julius Lester, Chronicler of Black America, Is Dead at 78
. ''New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved 2018-01-21. Print edition, January 21, 2018, p. A27.Marquard, Bryan (January 20, 2018).

. ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Gl ...

''. bostonglobe.com. Retrieved 2018-01-21. In March 1988, in a unanimous step, the Afro-American Studies faculty wrote a letter to the university administration recommending that Lester be reassigned to a different department.Action at Massachusetts U. Raises Censorship Cry
. ''New York Times''. nytimes.com. May 29, 1988. Retrieved 2018-01-21. Following negotiations that involved the chancellor of the university, the dean of the faculty, and Lester himself, Lester transferred to the Judaic and Near Eastern Studies department (where he had held a joint appointment since 1982), and remained there for the rest of his university career, until his retirement at the end of 2003. During his 32 years at the university, Lester taught courses in five departments: Comparative Literature ("Black and White Southern Fiction"), English ("Religion in Western Literature"), Afro-American Studies ("The Writings of

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...

"), ("Writings of

"), ("Literature of the

Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...

"), ("Blacks and Jews: A Comparative Study"), and Judaic Studies ("Biblical Tales and Legends") and ("The Writings of

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...

"), History ("Social Change and the 1960s"), one of the university's largest and most popular courses. Lester was awarded all three of the university's most prestigious faculty awards: the Distinguished Teacher's Award, the Faculty Fellowship Award for Distinguished Research and Scholarship, and the Chancellor's Medal, the university's highest honor. The

Council for Advancement and Support of Education The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is a nonprofit association of educational institutions. It serves professionals in the field of educational advancement. This field encompasses alumni relations, communications, marketin ...

selected him as the Massachusetts State Professor of the Year 1986.

Creative endeavors

In addition to performing songs and recording albums, Lester wrote eight nonfiction books, 31 children's books, one book of poetry and photographs (with David Gahr), and three adult novels. His first book was an instructional guide to playing the 12-string guitar, co-authored with

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

. Among the awards his books received were the

Newbery Honor Newbery is a surname. People * Chantelle Newbery (born 1977), Australian Olympic diver * David Newbery (born 1943), British economist *Eduardo Newbery (1878–1908), Argentine odontologist and aerostat pilot * Francis Newbery (disambiguation), s ...

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

Coretta Scott King Award The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Ethnic & Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award r ...

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

finalist,

ALA Notable Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.National Book Critics Circle The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...

Honor Book, and the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Outstanding Book Award. His books have been translated into eight languages. He published more than 200 essays and book and film reviews for such publications as ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''The New York Times'' Op-Ed page, ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', ''

Sing Out! ''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960. Background ''Sing Out ...

'', ''Moment'', ''Forward'' and ''Dissent''. His photographs have been included in an exhibit of images from the civil rights movement at the Smithsonian Institution. He had solo shows at the University of Massachusetts Student Union Gallery, the

Forbes Library The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library of 30th U.S. president Calvin Coolidge. Location The library is located at the Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts, where Coolidge practiced law and served ...

, Northampton, Mass., Valley Photo Center, Springfield, Mass., and the Robert Floyd Photography Gallery,

Southampton, Mass Southampton () is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It was established first as a district of Northampton in 1732. It was incorporated in 1775. The name Southampton was given to it during its first town meeting in 1773. ...

Death

Lester died of complications from

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by long-term respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and a cough, which may or may not produce ...

(COPD) on January 18, 2018 after a brief hospitalization.

Written works

* ''The Folksinger's Guide to the 12-String Guitar as Played by Leadbelly, Lester and Pete Seeger'' (1965) * ''Look Out, Whitey! Black Power Gon' Get Your Mama'' (1968) * ''

To Be a Slave ''To Be A Slave'' is a 1968 nonfiction children's book by Julius Lester, illustrated by Tom Feelings. It explores what it was like to be a slave. The book includes many personal accounts of former slaves, accompanied by Lester's historical commen ...

'' (1968) * ''Search for the New Land'' (1969) * ''Revolutionary Notes'' (1969) * ''Black Folktales'' (1969) * ''The Seventh Son: The Thoughts and Writings of W. E. B. DuBois'' (1971) * ''Two Love Stories'' (1972) * ''Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History'' (1972) * ''The Knee-High Man and Other Tales'', illustrations by Ralph Pinto (1972) * ''Who I Am'', photographs by David Gahr (1974) * ''All Is Well'' (1976) * ''This Strange New Feeling'' (1982) * ''Do Lord Remember Me'' (1984) * '' The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit'', illus.

Jerry Pinkney Jerry Pinkney (December 22, 1939 – October 20, 2021) was an American illustrator and writer of children's literature. Pinkney illustrated over 100 books since 1964, including picture books, nonfiction titles and novels. Pinkney's works addresse ...

(1987) * ''Lovesong: Becoming a Jew'' (1988) * ''More Tales of Uncle Remus: Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit, His Friends, Enemies, and Others'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (1988) * ''How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? And Other Tales'', illus.

David Shannon David Shannon (born October 5, 1959) is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Shannon grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design and now lives in Los Angeles. In 1998 he won the Caldeco ...

(1989) * ''Further Tales of Uncle Remus: The Misadventures of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Wolf, the Doodang, and Other Creatures'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (1990) * ''Falling Pieces of the Broken Sky'' (1990) * ''The Last Tales of Uncle Remus'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (1994) * ''The Man Who Knew Too Much'', illus. Leonard Jenkins (1994) * ''And All Our Wounds Forgiven'' (1994) * '' John Henry'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (1994) * ''Othello: A Novel'' (1995) * '' Sam and the Tigers'', illus.

(1996) * ''From Slaveship to Freedom Road'', paintings by Rod Brown (1998) * '' Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (1998) * ''What a Truly Cool World'', illus. Joe Cepeda (1999) * ''When the Beginning Began'', illus. Emily Lisker (1999) * '' Albidaro and the Mischievous Dream'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (2000) * ''Pharaoh's Daughter: A Novel'' (2000) * ''The Blues Singers: Ten Who Rocker the World'', illus. Lisa Cohen (2001) * '' When Dad Killed Mom'' (2001) * ''Ackamarackus: Julius Lester's Sumptuously Silly Fantastically Funny Fables'', illus. Emilie Chollat (2001) * ''Why Heaven Is Far Away'', illus. Joe Cependa (2002) * ''Shining'', illus. John Clapp (2003) * ''The Autobiography of God'' (2004) * ''Let's Talk About Race'', illus. Karen Barbour (2005) * ''On Writing for Children and Other People'' (2005) * ''Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue'' (2005) * '' The Old African'', illus. Jerry Pinkney (2005) * ''Time's Memory'' (2006) * ''Cupid: A Novel'' (2007) * ''Guardian'' (2008) * ''The Hungry Ghosts'' (2009) * ''The Girl Who Saved Yesterday'' (2016)

Awards

Book awards

, 1969, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1971, both for ''

'' * Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1972, and

finalist, 1973, both for ''The Long Journey Home: Stories from Black History'' * Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, 1973, for ''The Knee-high Man and Other Tales'' * Coretta Scott King honor, 1983, for ''This Strange New Feeling'', and 1988, for ''Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit'' * Parents' Choice Story Book award, 1987, for ''The Tales of Uncle Remus'', and 1990, for ''Further Tales of Uncle Remus'' * Reading Magic Award, 1988, for ''More Tales of Uncle Remus'' *

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are a set of American literary awards conferred by ''The Boston Globe'' and ''The Horn Book Magazine'' annually from 1967. One book is recognized in each of four categories: Fiction and Poetry, Nonfiction, and P ...

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

Notable Book, and

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

, all 1995, all for ''John Henry'' *

, 1996, for ''Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling of Little Black Sambo'', illustrated by

– runner-up for the 2016

Phoenix Picture Book Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...

"Phoenix Picture Book Award"

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...

(childlitassn.org). June 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-11. *

, 2006, for his novel ''Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue''

Other awards

* Distinguished Teacher's Award, 1983–84 * Faculty Fellowship Award for Distinguished Research and Scholarship, 1985 * National Professor of the Year Silver Medal Award, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, 1985 * Massachusetts State Professor of the Year and Gold Medal Award for National Professor of the Year,

, both 1986 * Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, 1986–87.

References

External links

* *
SNCC Digital Gateway: Julius Lester
Documentary website telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing, created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University.

at Jones Library (Amherst, MA) * *
Julius Lester
at Profotos.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Julius Activists for African-American civil rights History of civil rights in the United States African-American children's writers American non-fiction children's writers American humanities academics American male novelists University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty Newbery Honor winners African-American novelists Jewish American writers Fisk University alumni Converts to Judaism from Methodism African-American Jews 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers American people of German-Jewish descent Novelists from Massachusetts Novelists from Missouri Writers from St. Louis 1939 births 2018 deaths 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American Jews African-American male writers

Early life and family

Civil rights years

Conversion to Judaism

Academic career

Creative endeavors

Death

Written works

Awards

Book awards

Other awards

References

Further reading

External links