Something to Do with Power

Julian Mayfield’s Journey toward a Black Radical Thought, 1948–1984

David Romine, David Tyroler Romine

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781469685137, 9781469685120
• eBook ISBN: 9781469685144
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Unlike his more well-known contemporaries such as Malcolm X and Maya Angelou, Julian Hudson Mayfield (1928–1984) has remained on the periphery of mainstream historical narratives. Yet his extensive intellectual archive has been a vital resource for historians exploring Black radicalism. By centering Mayfield’s lived experiences across five decades and four continents, this book offers a unique lens into the complex intersections of Black communism, Black nationalism, and Black internationalism during the Cold War era.

Something to Do with Power highlights the importance of Mayfield’s story of mutual interest and solidarity in shaping literary and political activism, offering a fresh examination of the Black left’s role in American culture. His legacy as a writer, propagandist, and artist committed to resisting the domination of white supremacy underscores his significant, though underappreciated, contribution to American history.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Which Way Does the Blood River Run?
• 1. The Making of a Radical, 1928–1954
• 2. Invisible Island, 1954–1959
• 3. The End of Summer: Literature and Activism, 1959–1960
• 4. An Unbelievable Kind of Revolution: Cuba and the Black Liberation Movement in the United States, 1960–1961
• 5. In Every Sense a Stranger: Community and African Unity in Accra, 1961–1967
• 6. The Black Militant in Theory and in Practice, 1967–1968
• 7. Uptight in Cleveland: The Black Militant Goes to Hollywood, 1968–1971
• 8. The Nation and the Pan-African Ideal: Nationalism, Sovereignty, and Identity in Guyana, 1971–1973
• 9. The Black King Must Be Black: Hollywood and the Haitian Revolution, 1973–1976
• Epilogue: I Am Not Resigned, 1976–1984
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index