Cobb, Charles E., 1943-

Charles E. "Charlie" Cobb Jr. (born June 23, 1943) is a journalist, professor, and former activist with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Along with several veterans of SNCC, Cobb established and operated the African-American bookstore Drum and Spear in Washington, D.C. from 1968 to 1974.[1] Currently he is a senior analyst at allAfrica.com and a visiting professor at Brown University.[2] Cobb was born in Washington, D.C., in 1943 and grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. His parents were politically active.[3] His great grandfather founded a farming community in Mississippi called New Africa in 1888.[4] In the fall of 1961 Cobb started studies at Howard University where he became active in the Civil Rights Movement. After following and reading about the sit-in demonstrations, Cobb participated in a protest against segregation in Annapolis, Maryland, where he was arrested in an act of civil disobedience.[5][6] In 1962 he traveled to the Mississippi Delta and became a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[7] His work and activism as SNCC field secretary lasted until 1967. In 1974 Cobb began his career in journalism when he began reporting for WHUR Radio in Washington, DC. Later, in 1976, Cobb started work at National Public Radio as a foreign affairs reporter, working on the network's coverage of Africa. Cobb helped to establish the NPR's first coverage of African affairs. After leaving National Public Radio, Cobb worked as a correspondent for the PBS show Frontline from 1983 until 1985. In 1985 he became the first black staff writer for National Geographic Magazine. He was a member of National Geographic′s editorial staff from 1985 to 1997. Currently Cobb is a senior analyst at allAfrica.com. Cobb was a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2008 obb is currently a visiting professor of Africana studies at Brown University, where he teaches a course called "The Organizing Tradition of the Southern Civil Rights Movement."[15]