Black software : the Internet and racial justice, from the Afronet to Black Lives Matter

Activists, pundits, politicians, and the press frequently proclaim today's digitally mediated racial justice activism the new civil rights movement. As Charlton D. McIlwain shows in this book, the story of racial justice movement organizing online is much longer and varied than most people know. In fact, it spans nearly five decades and involves a varied group of engineers, entrepreneurs, hobbyists, journalists, and activists. But this is a history that is virtually unknown even in our current age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Black Lives Matter. Beginning with the simultaneous rise of civil rights and computer revolutions in the 1960s, McIlwain, for the first time, chronicles the long relationship between African Americans, computing technology, and the Internet. In turn, he argues that the forgotten figures who worked to make black politics central to the Internet's birth and evolution paved the way for today's explosion of racial justice activism. From the 1960s to present, the book examines how computing technology has been used to neutralize the threat that black people pose to the existing racial order, but also how black people seized these new computing tools to build community, wealth, and wage a war for racial justice.Through archival sources and the voices of many of those who lived and made this history, Black Software centralizes African Americans' role in the Internet's creation and evolution, illuminating both the limits and possibilities for using digital technology to push for racial justice in the United States and across the globe. Cover 1 BLACK SOFTWARE: THE INTERNET AND RACIAL JUSTICE, FROM THE AFRONET TO BLACK LIVES MATTER 4 COPYRIGHT 5 DEDICATION 6 CONTENTS 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10 INTRODUCTION 16 Book One 22 CHAPTER ONE: THE GREAT EQUALIZER 24 CHAPTER TWO: THE TECH SCHOOL ROUTE 41 CHAPTER THREE: THE ROXBURY SHAKE 57 CHAPTER FOUR: THE VANGUARD 72 Lee, LA’s Voice 72 Tyronne, the SYSOP 76 Mix Master Ken 80 The Money Men, David and Malcolm 84 Kamal, Making His Mark 88 CHAPTER FIVE: BLACK SOFTWARE COMES TO CAMBRIDGE 92 CHAPTER SIX: THE ELECTRONIC VILLAGE NEEDS AN ORGANIZER 104 CHAPTER SEVEN: WANT AD FOR A REVOLUTION 120 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE BATTLE FOR BLACK CYBERSPACE 134 CHAPTER NINE: ONE HUNDRED YEARS BLACK: A CAUTIONARY TALE 158 CHAPTER TEN: TAKING “IT” TO THE STREETS 173 Book Two 182 CHAPTER ELEVEN: COLLISION COURSE 184 CHAPTER TWELVE: THE REVOLUTION, BROUGHT TO YOU BY IBM 194 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE COMMITTEEMEN 208 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: WHAT HAPPENED AT THE HOMESTEAD 219 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: KANSAS CITY BURNING 231 CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE MAN’S BEST FRIEND 239 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY: OUR PAST IS PROLOGUE 259 ENDNOTES 274 CHAPTER 1 274 CHAPTER 2 275 CHAPTER 3 275 CHAPTER 4 276 CHAPTER 5 276 CHAPTER 7 277 CHAPTER 8 277 CHAPTER 9 277 CHAPTER 10 278 CHAPTER 11 278 CHAPTER 12 278 CHAPTER 13 279 CHAPTER 14 279 CHAPTER 15 280 CHAPTER 16 280 CHAPTER 17 281 SELECTED SOURCE DOCUMENTATION 282 PERIODICALS 282 ORGANIZATION/CORPORATE RECORDS, CORRESPONDENCE, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, AND ANNUAL REPORTS 287 GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS 290 ACADEMIC ARTICLES AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 292 PERSONAL INTERVIEWS 293 OTHER 294 INDEX 296 Activists, pundits, politicians, and the press frequently proclaim today's digitally mediated racial justice activism the new civil rights movement. As Charlton D. McIlwain shows in this book, the story of racial justice movement organizing online is much longer and varied than most people know. In fact, it spans nearly five decades and involves a varied group of engineers, entrepreneurs, hobbyists, journalists, and activists. But this is a history that is virtually unknown even in our current age of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Black Lives Matter.Beginning with the simultaneous rise of civil rights and computer revolutions in the 1960s, McIlwain, for the first time, chronicles the long relationship between African Americans, computing technology, and the Internet. In turn, he argues that the forgotten figures who worked to make black politics central to the Internet's birth and evolution paved the way for today's explosion of racial justice activism. From the 1960s to present, the book examines how computing technology has been used to neutralize the threat that black people pose to the existing racial order, but also how black people seized these new computing tools to build community, wealth, and wage a war for racial justice.Through archival sources and the voices of many of those who lived and made this history, Black Software centralizes African Americans' role in the Internet's creation and evolution, illuminating both the limits and possibilities for using digital technology to push for racial justice in the United States and across the globe. The great equalizer -- The tech school route -- The Roxbury Shake -- The vanguard -- Black software comes to Cambridge -- The electronic village needs an organizer -- Want ad for a revolution -- The battle for black cyberspace -- 100 years black: a cautionary tale -- Taking it to the streets -- Collision course -- The revolution, brought to you by IBM -- The committeemen -- What happened at the homestead -- Kansas City burning -- The man's best friend -- Digital technology: our past is prologue "Black Software, for the first time, chronicles the long relationship between African Americans, computing technology, and the Internet. Through new archival sources and the voices of many of those who lived and made this history, this book centralizes African Americans' role in the Internet's creation and evolution, illuminating both the limits and possibilities for using digital technology to push for racial justice in the United States and across the globe"-- Provided by publisher