RAISING UP A PROPHET

How the freedom movements in black America and India joined hands before the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., and marched together into the heart of the 20th century. Kapur (who lectures at the Illif School of Theology in Denver) details the ways in which Mahatma Gandhi touched the lives of black intellectuals and leaders such as W.E.B. DuBois and George Washington Carver, and explains how, thanks to Gandhi-inspired essays by DuBois and others, African-Americans at the turn of the century became aware of the struggles of other people of color. Kapur also brings to light the contributions of other important but little-known black and Indian figures. He explains, for instance, how the lectures of Hubert H. Harrison in Harlem first spread Gandhi's principles throughout what was to become black America's leading intellectual and cultural community, and he details the work of such people as Lala Lajpat Rai, a founder of the Indian Independence movement, whose visits to black leaders in America preceded Gandhi's. Kapur's references to the value of African- American churches and newspapers deftly describe and cogently explain how the message of Gandhi and others spread throughout black America. A skillful and captivating account.