Institute of the Black World

The Institute of the Black World (IBW) was an Atlanta-based, African American think tank founded and directed by African American intellectuals from 1969 to 1983. Its primary objective was to conduct research that would positively impact the lives of African people worldwide; its initial emphasis was on addressing concerns relevant to African Americans.

The IBW as an institution began its life as a part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center and also had ties with the Atlanta University Graduate Center. One of the IBW's cofounders, Vincent Harding, a historian at Spelman College and friend of the King family, was asked by Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, Coretta Scott King, to direct the work of the Martin Luther King Library Documentation Project. Her offer, made shortly after her husband's assassination in 1968, was accepted by Harding, but he recommended an independent research project that would support the spirit of the slain civil rights leader. Coretta Scott King agreed to support the project and subsequently what was then known as the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Advanced Afro-American Studies was born.

Harding's idea was shaped by the times in which it was devised. Major events were taking place in the late 1960s, events that had a direct and powerful impact on the African American community: the black power movement, the Vietnam War, student demands for Black Studies curriculums in education, urban uprisings in response not only to the King assassination but also to economic conditions within those urban areas, and a growing black middle class, among other phenomena. These events were changing the way African Americans viewed themselves, their communities, and America as a whole.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Advanced Afro-American Studies soon became known as the Institute of the Black World. The first governing board of the new endeavor, called the Advisory Council, consisted of prominent members of the African American community. These individuals represented diverse areas, such as academia, the arts, and various community groups. Members of the council included its chair, C.T. Vivian, Walter F. Anderson, Margaret Alexander, Lerone Bennett, Horace Mann Bond, Robert Browne, John Henrik Clarke, Dorothy Cotton, Ossie Davis, St. Claire Drake, Katherine Dunham, Vivian Henderson, Tobe Johnson, Julius Lester, Frances Lucas, Jesse Noel, Rene Piquion, Eleo Pomare, Pearl Primus, Benjamin Quarles, Bernice Reagon, William Strickland, Council Taylor, E.U. Essien-Udom, Charles White, and Hosea Williams.

As a research institution designed to create solutions to challenges faced by African people, the IBW staff was comprised of scholars who could interrogate the past, and the present, in an effort to shape the future through in-depth analysis of the people, places, and events that impacted African people globally. The research that they conducted was not done solely for the benefit of academia. All the research had to have practical implications both inside and outside of the academy. The cadre of scholars involved in the initial project represented various academic disciplines and interests. All, however, shared a sincere desire to better the overall condition and status of African people. The first full-time research staff members were Lerone Bennett, Christine Coleman, Chester Davis, Lonetta Gaines, Vincent Harding, Stephen Henderson, Joyce Ladner, Daulton Lewis, William Strickland, Sterling Stuckey, and Robert Browne. Associate scholars and lecturers closely associated with the work and mission of the IBW included C.L.R. James, Amiri Baraka, St. Clair Drake, Walter Rodney, Stokely Carmichael, Ella Baker, Alvin F. Poussaint, and Haywood Burns.

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