A respected social and political luminary, Dr. Cornel West is University Professor of Religion at Princeton University, a prestigious position endowed by alumni funds. He has influenced multitudes of students in his courses at Yale, Harvard and Princeton and other acclaimed universities. His authoritative and revolutionary book titled Race Matters (1993) established him in the public intellectual community as the “preeminent African-American intellectual of our generation” (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.). The Cornel West Reader (2000) and Democracy Matters (2005) have garnered great respect from the academic community. Dr. West is the recipient of the American Book Award, as well as more than twenty honorary degrees. His provocative ideas on race, democracy, philosophical religion, and social justice assure his status as one of the foremost scholars of our age.
Throughout his career Dr. West has highlighted the relationship between the struggle for freedom and music. His 2007 album “Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations” interposes his perspective with performances by chart topping artists including Talib Kweli, Andre3000, Prince, KRS-One and Jill Scott. In the film, Dr. West delves into the interconnected origins of race and music, drawing lines between the music of the transatlantic slave trade and popular music today. Music’s power to speak for the voiceless cries out to the abolitionists of the 21st century to wage justice and redemption.
