he was part of marcus garvey and is universal negro improvement association movement in the 1920s.he came to new york from albany. so his dream was really to get to the continent, and he was never able to fulfill that dream he passed that dream on to every one of his children. my mom went in some ways to fulfill his dream, but also she was looking for a missing face of africa. at that time there was a sense that we can go back to a kind of homeland. so she went thinking that we were going back home. you know what emerged was that actually there was a connection that a connection that we have to africa, but we are definitely americans. have that tension of this homeland that we want to go back to but that is in many ways a method, and. >> c-span: when did you graduate from harvard, and what did you study hear? >> guest: i graduated in 1924 and i studied biology. i was going to go to medical school and do my md. >> c-span: what happened? [laughter] >> guest: somehow i realized i was an artist. i knew that i had always been a photographer and worked with the images and poetry actually

narratives, scholars have created what i call a very seductive radical art that runs the gamut from marcus garvey to w e b du bois, to paul robison to malcolm x.. and to the panthers. in doing so, historians have elevated not just excavated -- because that work needed to be excavated -- but not -- now they have elevated the role of rap radicals of the home and abroad. in the process of that excavation and elevation they have been varying the work of black liveries -- liberals in the struggle for anti-colonialism. there are a few descriptors such as the aplomb of the african revolution or you need a handkerchief. with that, just in explaining how the cold war caused these liberals to abandon colonial freedom struggles, so historians implied that only lacked radicals were in this -- black radicals were in this struggles, that they were the only ones left. but it -- this lens of interpretation is much too narrow. and i would argue, implicitly dangerous. what it does is it has funneled the very definition of real black leadership into a straitjacket of thought and action. it has cast militancy and re

narratives, scholars have created what i call a very seductive radical art that runs the gamut from marcus garvey to w e b du bois, to paul robison to malcolm x.. and to the panthers. in doing so, historians have elevated not just excavated -- because that work needed to be excavated -- but not -- now they have elevated the role of rap radicals of the home and abroad. -- of lack radicals. in the process of that excavation and elevation they have been varying the work of black liveries -- liberals in the struggle for anti-colonialism. there are a few descriptors such as the aplomb of the african revolution or you need a handkerchief. with that, just in explaining how the cold war caused these liberals to abandon colonial freedom struggles, so historians implied that only lacked radicals were in this -- black radicals were in this struggles, that they were the only ones left. but it -- this lens of interpretation is much too narrow. and i would argue, implicitly dangerous. what it does is it has funneled the very definition of real black leadership into a straitjacket of thought and action. it has

powell and eric holder have backgrounds from the caribbean, harry belafonte stokely carmichael marcus garvey. and at the other end rihanna, nicki minaj from the caribbean. would you care -- >> host: neville, where are you from? >> caller: i'm from guyana in south america. >> host: thank you sir. >> guest: i think you just commented, and i couldn't agree were more. that's what's so beautiful about this country and this is worth remembering as we have this debate this pseudo-debate in the next few weeks and months and now with the republicans controlling both houses of congress, where is this immigration debate going to go? obviously, conservatives and others in this town think the president, you know, has rubbed their nose in this immigration debate and has really, you know gone beyond the pale when he used his executive privilege to do what he did on the issue of immigration reform. they didn't like that, as we all know, and you've seen that covered here on c-span. but it's worth remembering that this country is a country built on immigrants. and it's also worth remembering that all these im