HUB History - Our Favorite Stories from Boston History

From his Harvard graduation in 1895 to his death in 1934, William Monroe Trotter was one of the most influential and uncompromising advocates for the rights of Black Americans. He was a leader who had the vision to co-found groups like the Niagara Movement and the NAACP, but he also had an ego that prevented him from working effectively within the movements he started. He was a critic of Booker T Washington, and an early ally of Marcus Garvey. Monroe Trotter was the publisher of the influential Black newspaper the Boston Guardian, and he is the subject of a new biography by Tufts Professor Kerri Greenidge called Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter.

Please check out the transcript and full show notes OR register for our Boston History Happy Hour at: http://HUBhistory.com/183/

And support the show on Patreon.

Dr. Kerri K. Greenidge is an associate professor in the Department of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University. She also serves as codirector of the African American Trail Project. In the past, Kerri taught at Boston University, UMass, and Emerson. She also served as historian for the Boston African American National Historical Site for nine years before moving to Tufts. Make sure to buy the book and follow her on Twitter.

For obvious reasons (stupid covid crisis!), most of her book events have been cancelled, but you can hear her speak at the Edith Wharton House in Lenox, MA on August 10 and August 11.

There are also some related podcasts we think you might enjoy:

• William Monroe Trotter does battle against the racist movie Birth of a Nation.
• Millington Bergeson-Lockwood tells us about Black partisanship in late 19th century Boston, including a profile of William’s father James Monroe Trotter.
• Rising racism in 19th century Boston leads to a judicial decision codifying “separate but equal.”
• The women who challenged Woodrow Wilson on suffrage end up in the Charles Street Jail, where Trotter was jailed after the “Boston Riot.”

Join us for a Boston History Happy hour on Friday, May 15 at 5:30pm. If we can’t go to the bar, we’ll bring the bar to you, with Boston history bar trivia. Fire up your webcam, pour your favorite beverage, and join a fun socially distanced party. Register in the show notes, and we’ll send you a Zoom link. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you. We aren’t nearly organized enough for that!