Julius Bernard Lester (January 27, 1939 – January 18, 2018) was an American academic, activist author, photographer and musician. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Lester saw first hand the effects of segregation and racism and grew up to be a civil rights activist. When in college, he joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and was head of the photography department and even traveled with the SNCC to Vietnam to document the destruction of U.S. intervention and warfare. During this time, in 1966, he wrote the essay "The Angry Children of Malcolm X,” which gained him notoriety and he was encouraged to write a children's book. He wrote Look Out, Whitey! Black Power’s Gon’ Get Your Mama in 1968 which as he described, was the "first book about the black power movement by someone inside the black power movement."
In 1971, he became part of the faculty of the University of Massachusetts and taught African-American Studies and Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and remained there until his retirement in 2003. During his life, he was an author of children's books, essays, book and film reviews, and even recorded folk music.
Lester died on January 18, 2018 after suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Selected Bibliography
- Look Out, Whitey! Black Power Gon' Get Your Mama (1968)
- To Be a Slave (1968)
- The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (1987)
- Lovesong: Becoming a Jew (1988)
- More Tales of Uncle Remus: Further Adventures of Brer Rabbit, His Friends, Enemies, and Others (1988)
- How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have? And Other Tales (1989)
- John Henry (1994)
- Black Cowboy, Wild Horses: A True Story (1998)
- When Dad Killed Mom (2001)
