Reckoning with the Black Radical Tradition: A Conference in Honor of Jack O'Dell

Jack O’Dell (1923-2019) was a visionary intellectual and an astute organizer who helped shape the course of the Black freedom movement in the second half of the twentieth century. Though driven out of the spotlight by anticommunism, O’Dell worked creatively and tirelessly to advance the Black Radical Tradition through labor activism, piercing analysis, and political mobilization. He passed away on October 31, 2019, shortly before the pandemic.

On January 13, 2024, the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies and the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest at the University of Washington will host people of different backgrounds—activists, scholars, and others—to present and discuss the Black Radical Tradition in honor of Jack O’Dell’s life and work.

The image of Jack O'Dell provided courtesy of Rami Katz.