Jack O'Dell

Jack O'Dell (born Hunter Pitts O'Dell, August 11, 1923 – October 31, 2019) was an African-American activist and writer, best known for his role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. During World War II, he was an organizer for the National Maritime Union.

Early life Hunter "Jack" Pitts O'Dell was born in Detroit, Michigan, on August 11, 1923.

O'Dell attended an all-black college, Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, from 1941 until 1943. He studied pharmacology but left to enlist in the U.S. Marines.

After returning from the war, O'Dell signed up with Operation Dixie, which attempted to unionize Southern workers. In 1956, prior to his appearance before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, O'Dell's home was raided by New Orleans police and a U.S. Marshal. They found communist books as well as a document with organizing instructions for CPUSA members; O'Dell was outraged, claiming the search was illegal and in violation of his 4th Amendment rights. At the time, he was reportedly on the verge of being named SCLC's Executive Director.

In June 1963, some civil rights leaders, including King, met at the White House with President Kennedy, who privately told King to cut ties with Levison and O'Dell due to their Communist connections. In a 1989 interview, O'Dell said he understood the practical considerations that compelled his exit from the SCLC:

Later years O'Dell was associate editor of Freedomways—an African-American leftist political and cultural journal—from its inception in 1961 to its demise in 1985. Many of his contributions to the journal were anthologized in a 2012 collection, Climbin' Jacob's Ladder: The Black Freedom Movement Writings of Jack O'Dell.

From 1965 to 1972, he served on the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam. He was also a student mentor at the Institute for Community Leadership and at the Jack O'Dell Education Center in King County, Washington. He taught courses on colonialism and U.S. history at the Antioch Graduate School of Education in Washington, D.C. He was also affiliated with the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.

In his later years, O'Dell and his wife Jane Power lived in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was active in mentoring new generations of political activists—as well as historians of the Civil Rights era—in the Pacific Northwest.

In 2018 a short documentary film, The Issue of Mr. O'Dell, was made about his life. It was directed and produced by Rami Katz.

O'Dell died of a stroke on October 31, 2019, at the age of 96.

Selected articles and essays O'Dell, Jack (September 1962). "Report on Voter Registration Work". Southern Christian Leadership Conference. —— (Fall 1963). "The Negro People in the Southern Economy". Freedomways. 3 (4): 526–548. —— (Spring 1965). "Mississippi—State of the Union". Freedomways. 5 (2): 223–26. —— (Winter 1969). "Climbin' Jacob's Ladder: The Life and Times of the Freedom Movement". Freedomways. 9 (1): 7–23. —— (Winter 1971). "'A Rock in a Weary Lan': Paul Robeson's Leadership and 'The Movement' in the Decade Before Montgomery". Freedomways. 11 (1): 34–49. —— (Fall 1985). "Tracing the Freedom Way". Freedomways. 25 (3): 131–34. —— (June 2010). "The Democracy Charter and the Fierce Urgency of Now". The Black Commentator. No. 381. Reprint of an O'Dell speech at a 2004 conference in Stony Brook.