Elaine Brown
The first and only woman to head the Black Panther Party, as Chairman, is the author of A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story (Anchor Books) and The Condemnation of Little B (Beacon Press). In January 2007 A Taste of Power was optioned by HBO for its planned six-part series "The Black Panthers." She continues to serve as Executive Director of the Michael Lewis Legal Defense Committee, which she founded in 1997 to support the legal appeal of Lewis ("Little B"), who, arrested at the age of 13 for a murder he did not commit, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Having studied classical piano for years, she has recorded two albums of original songs, one for Motown records, and her 1969 album, Seize the Time, which includes The Black Panther Party National Anthem (The Meeting), was re-released as a CD in January 2007 by Warner Brothers.
Passionate and articulate, Elaine draws huge audiences at colleges and universities throughout the country. In her powerful lectures on "New Age Racism", Brown deconstructs the history of racism, gender oppression and class disparity. She empowers her audiences to work toward an inclusive and egalitarian world society, envisioning a world free of those evils, encouraging young people to join in the realization of the vision of eliminating racism, gender oppression and class disparity.
Brown is presently writing For Reasons of Race and Belief, the biography of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown) with Karima Al-Amin (2007, Carroll & Graf). She is also the editor of Trapped! Messages from Behind the Wall, a collection of autobiographical essays by black prisoners in New Mexico, set for publication by the State's Department of African American Affairs in 2007.
In 2004, Brown relocated from Atlanta to Brunswick, Georgia where, in November 2005, Brown -- who twice ran for public office as a member of the Black Panther Party -- ran for mayor of Brunswick, Georgia. Her platform would have created a base of economic power for the city's majority black and poor population, advocating redistribution of the massive revenues of the city's powerful port. Presently, Brown is a member of the Geechee Council of Georgia, a partner in Seize the Time, Inc., and a founder of the Brunswick Women's Association for Community Improvement. In 2002, she co-founded and became a Board member of the National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform. In 1997, after living seven years in France Brown returned to the United States, and settled in Atlanta, Georgia where she co-founded Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice and established the nonprofit education corporation Fields of Flowers.
A fluent French speaker, Brown has traveled extensively throughout the world, visiting China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Algeria as well as France, Italy, Russia, Argentina, Uruguay and elsewhere.
The mother of one adult daughter, Ericka Abram, Brown, grew up in the ghettos of North Philadelphia, and is has attended Temple University, UCLA, Mills College and Southwestern University School of Law. Elaine Brown’s papers have been acquired by Emory University.
Lecture Topics: New Age Racism and realization of the vision of eliminating racism, gender oppression and class disparity toward an inclusive and egalitarian world society.
Booking Information: Contact the lecture bureau to schedule Elaine Brown for your next event.
the lecture bureau 
7 Crescent Street Cambridge, MA 02138 888-912-0355