Radical Chicago

by Copyright Is for Losers (Artist)

A few Chicagoans the Kerr company loves!

John Bracey (1941–2023)—early founder of Black studies, officer of the infamous Anti-Poetry Club at Roosevelt University, Kerr board member, professor of Afro-American studies at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Related Kerr books:  Facing Reality (introduction), We Will Return in the Whirlwind (introduction), and Dancin’ in the Streets.

Slim Brundage (1903–1990)—Hobo, wobbly, soapboxer, veteran of Bughouse Square and the Dil Pickle Club, dadaist founder and janitor of the College of Complexes, "little theater" playwright/actor, president emeritus of the Hobo College in the 1930s, housepainter, humorist, and chief architect of the scandalous Beatnik Party during the 1960 elections. Related Kerr book: From Bughouse Square To The Beat Generation

Carlos Cortez (1923–2005)—printmaker, poet, IWW writer, and Kerr board president (a title he hated!). Related Kerr books: Crystal Glazing the Amber Fluid, Where Are the Voices? and Viva Posada!

Voltairine de Cleyre (1866–1912)—The "most gifted and brilliant anarchist woman America ever produced" according to Emma Goldman. Although she spent most of her adult life in Philadelphia, she made regular pilgrimages to Chicago to commemorate the Haymarket martyrs, and eventually moved here toward the end of her life. Related Kerr book: Written in Red.

Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926)– a key figure in Chicago’s Pullman Strike, for which he was jailed; the best-loved socialist agitator of his time and one of the best remembered radicals in US history, inspiring millions. Related Kerr books: author of Walls & Bars; featured in The Pullman Strike

St. Clair Drake (1911–1990)—co-author of Black Metropolis, Roosevelt University professor of anthropology and sociology who inspired student activists including Timuel Black, James Forman, and members of the Anti-Poetry Club such as John Bracey, Joffre Stewart, Franklin Rosemont, Tor Faegre, and Robert Green, some of whom went on to write and edit for Charles H. Kerr Publishing. Related Kerr book: Dancin’ in the Streets.

Fred Hampton (1948–1969)—Black Panther Party organizer and co-founder of the original Rainbow Coalition in Chicago. Featured in Kerr books Rising Up Angry and We Will Return in the Whirlwind.

Mary Marcy (1877–1922)—"one of the clearest minds and greatest souls in our movement” according to Eugene V. Debs. Editor of the International Socialist Review (ISR), former secretary to Charles H. Kerr, and author of Letter of a Pork Packer’s Stenographer, a muckraking expose of the meat industry that was serialized in the ISR. Related Kerr books: You Have No Country! and forthcoming biography.

Lucy Parsons (1851–1942)—"More dangerous than a thousand rioters!" according to the Chicago Police, anarchist, labor organizer, writer, editor, publisher, and dynamic speaker, early proponent of wages for housework, co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), spouse of Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons. Related Kerr books: Lucy Parsons: Freedom, Equality, & Solidarity, Lucy Parsons: American Revolutionary, and Hobohemia

Ben Reitman (1879–1943)—anarchist doctor to the poor, early provider of abortion and proponent of birth control, former hobo, chair of Chicago’s bohemian Dil Pickle Club, lover of Emma Goldman. Featured in Kerr books: Hobohemia and From Bughouse Square To The Beat Generation

Joffre Stewart (1925–2019)—anarcho-pacifist member of the Roosevelt University Anti-Poetry Club who was expelled for burning a US flag while giving a talk at the RU Wobbly Club; 1960 Beatnik Vice Presidential candidate; mentioned in Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl;” longtime war tax resister and friend of the Kerr company.

Studs Terkel (1912–2008)—oral historian, author, radio host, friend of the Kerr company. He called Kerr “a precious part of the great heritage of the American labor movement.”