Symposium 'Otto and Hermina Huiswoud: Modern Black Diasporic Radicals'
8 & 9 september 2023
A two-day symposium organised by Small Axe, The Black Archives, The International Institute of Social History and the Tropenmuseum.
In the history of Black internationalism, few trajectories involve as many sites of political organizing as those of Hermina and Otto Huiswoud. Hermina participated in organizations spanning from the Harlem Tenants League in New York to the Lenin Institute in Moscow. While Otto remains principally remembered as the only Black person present at the founding meeting of the Communist Party USA, he also spearheaded recruitment campaigns in the Caribbean, and made his mark as chair of the Vereniging Ons Suriname (“Our Suriname Association”) in Amsterdam after WWII.
The symposium brings together an international set of scholars discussing questions to do with the Huiswouds’ relationship to Pan-Africanism, their work for radical publications such as The Negro Worker and organizations such as International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers, their legacy in the contemporary Dutch Caribbean, and their archive at The Black Archives in Amsterdam.
Confirmed participants include: Leslie James, Mano Delea, Guno Jones, Holger Weiss, Margaret Stevens, Mitchell Esajas, Minkah Makalani, and Pepijn Brandon.
Provisional Schedule:
Friday, 8 September 2023
Location: International Institute of Social History (IISH)
9.30–10.00 Introductions
10.00-11.30 Leslie James
11.30-13.00 Mano Delea
13.00–14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.30 Guno Jones
15.30–17.00 Holger Weiss
Saturday, 9 September 2023,
Location: The Black Archives
10.00-11.30 Margaret Stevens
11.30-13.00 Tour of Black Archives
13.00–14.00 Lunch
14.00–15.30 Mitchell Esajas, Phaedra Haringsma & Hermine Haman
15.30-17.00 Roundtable
When & where? 8 september (IISG) & 9 september (The Black Archives)
Registration? €0-,- via the registrationpage, lunch available for €15,- p.p.
