Lifetime Achievement: Lerone Bennett, Jr., has been a
trailblazer in the quest for a more accurate and inclusive
interpretation of American history. This makes him
controversial in the eyes of a conservative and segregated
historical establishment, which often seems to function as a
PR firm for the Confederacy. For example, while many of them
chastise a new historical standard that provides space for
the exploits of Harriett Tubman, no one complains about Gone
With the Wind having been used as a Civil War textbook for
many decades. With such milestone works as Before
the Mayflower, Black Power U.S.A., and The Shaping of Black
America, Lerone Bennett, Jr., has supplied black history to
generations of students who couldn't locate it in their
textbooks. At the age of 74, he hasn't slowed
down, hurling a thunderbolt at the Old Guard Academy with
his Forced into Glory, which shows Abe Lincoln as a man who
only emancipated African Americans after they'd done the job
themselves. BCF is honored to recognize Lerone Bennett, Jr.,
with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He is our kind of
historian. -Ishmael
Reed Lifetime Achievement: Jack Hirschman is an immensely
present yet hidden figure in the cultural politics and life
of American poetry. Amazingly prolific-on the highest
levels of committed artistic and activist
involvement-his work is generous, open, and
penetratingly critical. His critique is not just sung or
hectored in the easy one-d too much political poetry is
neutered by; it is of immense depth and profundity. His
magnum opus-The Arcanes-is on the same footing
as modernist epics like Pound's The Cantos, William Carlos
Williams's Paterson, Charles Olson's The Maximus Poems,
H.D.'s Trilogy, and Thomas McGrath's Letters To An Imaginary
Friend. Hirschman's translations are an extension of his
global grasp of political and poetic economy. Over the
decades he has translated poets from the Greek, French,
Creole, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish languages. A
tireless worker for social justice and artistic freedom, it
is ironic that Hirschman is highly regarded in Europe as a
major American poet and not in his own country. We are
honored to give recognition to his work and life, as he
honors and challenges our work and lives. -David
Meltzer
Lerone Bennett,
Jr.
Jack
Hirschman