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Jack Marchbanks Author Visit - Art and Activism Book Release

Jazz Artists and Writers in the Civil Rights Vanguard

Jack Marchbanks, historian, lecturer, and host of Jazz Sunday, visits the Bexley Library to celebrate the release of his book Art and Activism: Jazz Artists and Writers in the Civil Rights Vanguard.

Join historian, longtime host of Jazz Sunday, and author Jack Marchbanks at the Bexley Public Library as we celebrate the release of his book, Art and Activism: Jazz Artists and Writers in the Civil Rights Vanguard.  Marchbanks will explore how prominent jazz artists like Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Lena Horne along with their literary counterparts like Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, and Langston Hughes were able to use their influence as cultural leaders within the evolving civil rights movement. Wil Haygood calls the book "a valentine to those artist-activists who disrupted the tenor of a segregated nation and inched us closer to freedom." A book signing will follow the presentation.

About the Author:

Jack Marchbanks is a professional historian, lecturer, and longtime host of Jazz Sunday, a weekly three-hour radio program on 90.5 FM WCBE in Columbus, Ohio. He has written, narrated, and produced nationally broadcast public radio documentaries, including features on Sam Cooke and his hometown funk heroes, the Ohio Players. Art and Activism: Jazz Artists and Writers in the Civil Rights Vanguard is his first book.

About the Book:

Explore how jazz legends and literary icons united art and activism, shaping the civil rights movement and transforming American culture during the pivotal period between 1955 and 1965.

Art and Activism explores the powerful, symbiotic relationships among artists such as Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Lena Horne and their literary counterparts—Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, and Langston Hughes. These creative figures positioned themselves as cultural thought leaders within the evolving civil rights movement. While the Jim Crow South was the movement’s operational front, Jack Marchbanks argues that New York City’s intellectual, cultural, and fundraising communities functioned as its strategic command center.

Readers who admire jazz legends like Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus—and those fascinated by prominent African American writers like James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison—will discover how these artists intertwined their work with the civil rights struggle. The book examines their involvement in pivotal confrontations and their connections with key leaders such as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Daisy Bates, Ella Baker, and Malcolm X.

By illuminating the intersection of art and activism, this study offers a fresh perspective on the pivotal decade from 1955 to 1965. It is an essential resource for undergraduate courses and an engaging read for anyone seeking to understand the civil rights era through a cultural lens.

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