James Forman was one of the major leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. He was Executive Secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Comittee (SNCC) from 1961-1968. He died earlier tonight.
Forman's memoir The Making of Black Revolutionaries is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the development and events of the Movement. In his introduction to the 1997 re-issue of Forman's book, Julian Bond wrote:
He molded SNCC's near-anarchic personality into a functioning, if still chaotic, organizational structure, and insured that most of its parts functioned smoothly most of the time. He brought his trained historian's eye and values to our work, thereby accounting for the large repository of field and other reports, giving SNCC the best detailed records (for its short life) among its contemporary and often competing organizations.
"Write it down" was his constant injunction; because he insisted, the SNCC files contain often lyrical descriptions of exactly how an organizer goes about his or her work. Here one may learn who the real "leaders" are, and how those who aspire to leadership can be helped to develop to their fullest. The SNCC field-secretaries' reports, written at Forman's insistence and withheld at great peril, offer a day-to-day account of community organizing that cannot be found anywhere else. SNCC, of course, because of Forman's leadership and personality, was unlike any other organization. (xi-xii)
Through his memoir, James Forman has been one of my guiding spirits. His memoir is a great activist's handbook and an important window into the experiences of African Americans in the 20th Century.
In this last week, as it became clear he was dying, Forman's friends from SNCC started posting memories of him on Civil Rights Movement Veterans. I'm sure there will be many more postings on the site in the weeks to come; they will be well worth reading.
Rest in peace, Mr. Forman.
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