This 2021 ASA Presidential Lecture combines sociopolitical history with personal reflections on Black Harlem during African decolonization. It begins at the turn of the twentieth century and traces Harlem’s transformation into an international center of pan-Africanist activism and cultural production. Brown explores solidarities that grew as Harlem politicians, grassroots leaders, and residents encountered political exiles and cultural leaders from the continent, the diaspora, and aligned political movements worldwide. These alliances and modes of protest facilitated a hardening of militant activist traditions and cultural cohesion that shaped an anti-imperialist pan-African movement and ultimately a multinational Black political movement in the 1960’s to 1990s.

2021 年 ASA 总统演讲将社会政治历史与非洲非殖民化期间黑人哈莱姆区的个人反思结合起来。它始于二十世纪之交，追溯了哈莱姆区转变为泛非主义行动主义和文化生产的国际中心的过程。布朗探讨了哈莱姆区政客、基层领导人和居民遇到来自非洲大陆的政治流亡者和文化领袖、侨民和世界各地联合政治运动时所产生的团结。这些联盟和抗议模式促进了激进激进分子传统和文化凝聚力的强化，从而塑造了反帝国主义的泛非运动，并最终在 1960 年代至 1990 年代形成了一场跨国黑人政治运动。