"HISTORY IS ALWAYS UNKIND TO THOSE WHO REALLY MAKE REVOLUTION": POLITICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY TWO BLACK POWER LEADERS

BROWN, H. Rap. Die N****r Die! New York: Dial Press, 1969. Octavo, original orange cloth, original dust jacket. With a second copy and with a proof copy in original paper wrappers. Housed in a custom half brown morocco clamshell case. $8500.

First edition of the incendiary activist's personal and political history, presented here in a scarce proof copy as well as two hardcover copies in original dust jackets, one inscribed by Brown's friend and fellow Black Panther Party leader Stokely Carmichael ("Right on Rap / Stokely Carmichael") and one inscribed by Brown to bookseller and civil rights activist Lewis H. Michaux: "To Brother Lewis Michaux; History is always unkind to those who really make Revolution. You are a Brother that made it happen for many people. Much Black Power, H. Rap Brown."

"More than any other Black leader, H. Rap Brown, former Chairman of SNCC, has come to symbolize the ideology of Black Revolution" (publisher's jacket copy). Brown (later known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin) was a pivotal figure of the Black Power movement, famous for his polarizing rhetoric; he succeeded Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) as chairman of the Student Nonviolent/National Coordinating Committee in 1967. Here, "in the strongest of language, he argues that this country is waging genocide on its largest minority group. He sees America, in fact, as the oppressor of black people around the world. The book purports to be a personal history, an 'autobiography in action,' but, of course, it is more than that. It is also a moving and rather eloquent plea—for all its cool rap—for revolutionary struggle of oppressed peoples everywhere; not so much a handbook of revolution as an earthy and somehow very appealing look at the making of one revolutionist" (New York Times). Proof copy hand-paginated. Blockson 2710. Inscriptions as above; both Brown and Carmichael were patrons of Michaux's landmark Harlem bookstore, the National Memorial African Bookstore. Brown's early signatures are very scarce, as he became a fugitive in 1970, was arrested in 1971 and changed his name while in prison.

Books in fine condition, in extremely good, lightly toned dust jackets with short closed edge tears, one jacket with taped repairs. Proof copy in near-fine condition. An exceptional association set, handsomely presented.