Elomber Brath
Revson Fellow 2003-2004
Co-founder
Patrice Lumumba Coalition
Elombe Brath is an activist who has championed the rights of African and Black people for over 46 years. As producer and host of “Afrikaleidoscope,” a public affairs program on WBAI and consultant on African affairs at “Like It Is,” WABC-TV, for 17 years, Mr. Brath has brought in-depth coverage on African issues and interviews with African and Caribbean heads of state, national liberation movement leaders, and internationally renowned cultural personalities and icons. Mr. Brath’s activism dates back to 1956, when he co-founded the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS), a jazz concert series and cultural and political forum to discuss the exploitation of Black people. In 1975, he co-founded the Patrice Lumumba Coalition (PLC), to support Angolans’ right to self-determination and became involved in domestic and local struggles over healthcare and political prisoners. In the 1980s, he helped found the Unity in Action Network which pressured artists who had violated the UN cultural boycott on South Africa to apologize and cease their violation. During the 1990s, Mr. Brath worked with the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid and the UN Commission on Namibia, traveling under their auspices to Portugal, Canada, Guyana, and South Africa, and was invited to join a team of international monitors for the first non-apartheid election in South Africa in 1994. Mr. Brath served as the co-chair and moderator of a Harlem reception for Nelson Mandela in 1990, attended by over 200,000 people, and was the moderator for a reception for President Fidel Castro of Cuba at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. He attended the historic 7th Pan-African Congress in Uganda and the U.N. Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances. He has led delegations to the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). His delegation’s report on the DRC was made into a documentary and broadcast on radio and television, becoming the subject of several New York community forums. Mr. Brath has presented forums in Harlem and other Black communities to demonstrate similarities between the African-American struggle and those of other peoples of color from around the world, who receive little attention from mainstream media. As a Revson Fellow, Mr. Brath will study international affairs, media, political science, and world history in order to enhance his capacity as a leader and educator.
(The Revson Fellow’s biography that appears above was last updated in 2003. Revson Fellows may update their biographies on this site by sending email to: revson@columbia.edu)
The Revson year was an opportunity to recharge mental and spiritual batteries, to deepen my own understanding of important issues at what turned out to be a crucial time in our history, and to do so in the company of committed co-conspirators in the quest for peace and justice. It brings the enormous resources of a great university to the Fellows and time to reflect on how we can best utilize that knowledge to make a better New York City and world.
