Archives Unbound: 50 Years of Hope, Resistance, and Rebellion

This exhibition features items from the Cedric J. and Elizabeth P. Robinson Archive, a collection of research and teaching papers, ephemera and digital materials related to the careers of the Robinsons, renowned for their seminal scholarship and activism. The archive was donated by Elizabeth P. Robinson and their daughter, Najda Ife Robinson-Mayer to the UCSB Library.

Cedric Robinson (1940–2016) was professor and former chair of UCSB’s Departments of Black Studies and Political Science, the long-time director of the Center for Black Studies Research, and a pre-eminent cross-disciplinary scholar, political scientist and theorist of Black radicalism, African diaspora, internationalism, racial capitalism, media and politics.

For more than 30 years, Elizabeth Peters Robinson has been an educator, social worker, former associate director for media at KCSB-FM Radio, activist and community media producer. She was the long-time co-host of No Alibis, a radical news outlet that provided commentary from community-based perspectives often neglected in the mainstream media. She has also worked with the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters and participated in and covered international meetings like the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the World Social Fora, the World Summit on the Information Society, and the Americas Social Forum.

The Archive will support the creation of the Black Radical Tradition Archival Project at UCSB, which will use post-custodial, participatory, and community-based archival strategies to build and support an international network of scholars and activists carrying out research, writing and teaching entered on key topics represented in the Robinsons’ scholarship and activism.

Please visit the Ethnic & Gender Studies Collection (2nd floor, Ocean Side) and Special Research Collections (3rd floor, Mountain Side) to see a selection of materials from the archive.