Memorial Tribute in Honor of Professor Bill Strickland Planned for June 1
William Strickland. Photo: UMass.edu
Source: UMass News & Media
The W.E.B. DuBois Department of Afro-American Studies will hold a Memorial Tribute in honor of Professor Bill Strickland who died at the age of 87 on April 10, 2024. The memorial will be held on Saturday, June 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the New Africa House Theatre Room, 180 Infirmary Way on the UMass campus. The event will also be streamed on Zoom.
Strickland, who joined the Department of Afro-American Studies in 1973, taught political science at UMass Amherst for 40 years and served as the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers. Upon his retirement in 2013, he donated his papers to the Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center.
For more than 60 years, Strickland dedicated his life to advancing civil rights, human rights, and political power for communities throughout the African Diaspora. A prolific speaker and writer, he shared his incisive critiques of American racism, capitalism, and imperialism in the pages of Essence, African World, The Black Scholar, Presence Africaine, and the New York Times. He also served as a consultant for the landmark docuseries on the Civil Rights Movement, Eyes on the Prize, and the PBS documentary Malcolm X: Make It Plain, and he took special pride in his companion text to the series.
Amherst lost a special soul gifted with knowledge, who wowed them with his smarts, and he pass on a legacy for others to follow.
Professor Strickland’s students, will never forget his gift of knowledge, and he bestowed it upon them.
Forever, he will be missed by his family, and close friends…