William Jelani Cobb, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of History at Spelman College. He specializes in post-Civil War African American history, 20th century American politics and the history of the Cold War. He is also a contributing writer for Essence magazine, an essayist and fiction writer and the author of  To The Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (NYU Press 2007) as well as The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays. He is editor of The Essential Harold Cruse: A Reader, which was listed as a 2002 Notable Book of The Year by Black Issues Book Review.

Born and raised in Queens, NY, he was educated at Jamaica High School, Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Rutgers University where he received his doctorate in American History under the supervision of Dr. David Levering Lewis in May 2003.

Dr. Cobb’s forthcoming monograph Antidote to Revolution: African American Anticommunism and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1931-1957 examines the nexus of the two dominant themes of American politics in the 20th century: the quest for racial democracy and the state's opposition to Communism.

His reviews and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, Emerge, The Progressive, The Washington City Paper, ONE Magazine and Alternet.org. He has contributed to a number of anthologies including In Defense of Mumia, Testimony, Mending the World and Beats, Rhymes and Life. He has also been a featured commentator on National Public Radio and a number of other national broadcast outlets.

He resides in Atlanta, Ga.

The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays
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Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press (March 6, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1560259779

In this unflinching, timely, wide-ranging collection of essays, William Jelani Cobb lays bare the black experience of the past decade using cinema, music, literature, politics and pop culture. From the "too smart" irony of Dave Chappelle to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; from the gift and curse of "black success" in the post civil rights era to the failure of history to act as a guide for the present, this collection is a chronicle of where we have been and a signpost for where we need to go next.

To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip-Hop Aesthetic
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Hardcover: 200 pages
Publisher: NYU Press (February 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0814716709

With roots that stretch from West Africa through the black pulpit, hip-hop emerged in the streets of the South Bronx in the 1970s and has spread to the farthest corners of the earth. To the Break of Dawn uniquely examines this freestyle verbal artistry on its own terms. A kid from Queens who spent his youth at the epicenter of this new art form, music critic William Jelani Cobb takes readers inside the beats, the lyrics, and the flow of hip-hop, separating mere corporate rappers from the creative MCs that forged the art in the crucible of the street jam. Read an excerpt of To the Break of Dawn.

The Essential Harold Cruse: A Reader
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Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (February 23, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312293968

In 1967, as the movement for civil rights was turning into a bitter, often violent battle for black power, Harold Cruse’s The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual burst onto the scene. It was a lacerating attack on integration, and set the agenda for black cultural, social, and political autonomy. A classic of African American social thought, the book and its author went on to influence generations of activists, artists, and scholars. Cruse’s intelligence, independence, and breadth of vision virtually defined what it meant to be a black intellectual in modern America. In this first anthology of Cruse’s writing, William Jelani Cobb provides a powerful introduction to Cruse’s wide body of work, including published material such as excerpts from Crisis, as well as unpublished essays, speeches, and correspondence. The Essential Harold Cruse is certain to become standard reading for anyone interested in race in American society.

Antidote to Revolution: African American Anticommunism and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1931-1954
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Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0231133782

Related Links

William Jelani Cobb - Official Web Site
http://www.jelanicobb.com/

As Obama Rises, Old Guard Civil Rights Leaders Scowl
http://authors.aalbc.com/as_obama_old_civil_rights_leaders_scowl.htm