Aptheker, Herbert, 1915-2003

American Marxist author, lecturer, and apologist.

Noted Marxist scholar Dr. Herbert Aptheker was born in New York City in 1915. His more than thirty published books include such titles as THE ERA OF McCARTHYISM (1957), THE WORLD OF C. WRIGHT MILLS (1960), THE URGENCY OF MARXIST-CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE (1970), but he is best known for his work in the area of Black history. Here his books include AMERICAN NEGRO SLAVE REVOLTS (1943), TO BE FREE : STUDIES IN AFRO-AMERICAN HISTORY (1948), and AFRO-AMERICAN : THE MODERN ERA (1971).

Dr. Aptheker edited the posthumously published AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF W.E.B. DU BOIS (1968) and was selected by the late Dr. Du Bois as the Editor of his papers and their custodian. He was a co-founder and Director of the American Institute for Marxist Studies from its inception in 1964 through its demise in 1985.

Biography

Dr. Herbert Aptheker, historian and lecturer, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 31, 1915 to Benjamin and Rebecca (Komar) Aptheker. He married Fay Aptheker on Sept. 4, 1942; they had one daughter, Bettina Aptheker, an author and historian in her own right. Aptheker received his B.S. in 1936, an A.M. in 1937, and his Ph.D. in 1943, all from Columbia University. He also holds a Ph.D. (honorary) from Martin Luther U., Halle, Germany, 1966 and a DHL (honorary), University of Massachusetts, 1996.

He edited Masses and Mainstream from 1948 through 1952 and Political Affairs from 1952 through 1963. He was director of the American Institute for Marxist Studies, New York City, from 1964-1985. He was a professor at Hostos Community College, CUNY, 1971-1977, and has lectured extensively throughout the United States and Europe from 1941 through the present. He was a visiting lecturer in the Department of History at Bryn Mawr College, 1969-1971; in addition, he was a visiting lecturer at University of Massachusetts from 1971-1972, Yale University, 1976, University of California at Berkeley Law School, 1978-1991, University of Santa Clara, 1982-1983; and a visiting professor of Afro-American Studies at University of California at Berkeley, 1984.

He has written and published extensively, and is the author of To Be Free : Studies in American Negro History, 1948, rev. ed. 1992, World of C. Wright Mills, 1960, Soul of the Republic, 1964, Negro Slave Revolts in the United States, 1939, Negro in the Civil War, 1938, Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion, 1966, Mission to Hanoi, 1966, Labor Movement in the South During Slavery, 1954, The Truth about Hungary, 1957, The Nature of Democracy, Freedom, and Revolution, 1967, History of the American People, 3 vols., 1959, 1960, Essays in the History of the American Negro, rev. edit., 1964, Era of McCarthyism, 1955, Dare We Be Free?, 1960, American Foreign Policy and the Cold War, 1962, American Negro Slave Revolts, 1943, rev. edit., 1963, 1993, American Civil War, 1961, Urgency of Marxist-Christian Dialogue, 1970, Afro-American History : the Modern Era, 1971, Annotated Bibliography of the Published Writings of W.E.B. Du Bois, 1973, Early Years of the Republic, 1783-1793, 1976, The Unfolding Drama : Studies in U.S. History, 1979, Racism, Imperialism, and Peace, 1987, Abolitionism : A Revolutionary Movement, 1989, The Literary Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, 1989, Marxism : Demise or Renewal, 1990, Anti-Racism in U.S. History, 1992.

In addition to these original writings, he has edited numerous works, including Disarmament and American Economy, 1960, One Continual Cry, 1965, Marxism and Democracy, 1964, And Why Not Every Man, 1961, Marxism and Alienation, 1965, Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States, Vols. 1-7, 1951-1994, Marxism and Christianity, 1967, Autobiography of W.E.B. Du Bois, 1968, The Correspondence of W.E.B. Du Bois, Vol. I, 1973, Vol. II, 1976, Vol. III, 1978, The Published Writings of W.E.B. Du Bois, 40 vols., 1973-1986, Education for Black People (Du Bois), 1973, Prayers for Black Folk (Du Bois), 1980, Against Racism : 1887-1961 (Du Bois), 1985.

Aptheker ran for the U.S. Congress in 1966 as the Independent Peace candidate; he also ran for the U.S. Senate in 1976 as the Communist Party candidate. He served to major F.A. AUS, 1942-1946, ETO.

He served as a Guggenheim Fellow from 1946 to1947, and he received grants from the Social Science Research Council, 1961, the Rabinowitz Foundation, 1965, and the American Council of Learned Studies, 1974. He holds memberships in the American Historical Association and the Association for the Study of Negro Life, which awarded him its History Award in 1939 and 1969.