Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort this week as we mark the anniversary of the death of Malcolm X, we hear from an author who was hugely influenced by the civil rights leader. Reggie Brown was a student at SIU in the late 1960s. His book, A View from the Inside: On the Front Line of Afro-American Liberation, was released by Saluki Publishing in 2017.
In this unprecedented narrative, Black rights activist Reggie Brown tells an extraordinary tale of community building and resistance in southern Illinois. Brown begins with his early experiences in Harlem and his later attendance at Southern Illinois University, where he formed a team of civil rights activists who built a relationship with Carbondale’s African American community, organizing a free breakfast program for local children as well as other community programs. Brown and his team also trained Black students and community members in handling firearms and supported the militant self-defense measures of the United Front, a Black resistance organization in Cairo, Illinois