We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Professor John H. Bracey, Jr. (1941–2023). Dr. Bracey was a lifelong Civil Rights activist and a leading figure in the field of Black studies, building one of the first departments of Afro-American Studies in the nation at UMass. UMass Press was honored to publish Bracey’s influential and field-defining work on Black social history, arts, and racial movements, including SOS—Calling All Black People: A Black Arts Movement Reader (coedited with James Smethurst and Sonia Sanchez), Strangers & Neighbors: Relations between Blacks and Jews in the United States (with Maurianne Adams), and African American Women and the Vote, 1937-1965 (with Ann D. Gordon, Bettye Collier-Thomas, Arlene Voski Avakian, and Joyce Avrech Berkman).
Read more about Bracey’s life and achievements: https://www.diverseeducation.com/faculty-staff/article/15306434/black-studies-pioneer-john-h-bracey-jr-joins-the-ancestors and https://www.masslive.com/umass/2023/02/john-h-bracey-jr-umass-amherst-professor-and-civil-rights-icon-dies-at-81.html.
