Third World Press, the Chicago-based publisher of books from the African Diaspora, has been leading the way in black publishing since 1967.
Founded as a beacon of the Black Arts Movement by the poet and educator known then as Don L. Lee, now Haki R. Madhubuti, who remains its publisher, the company is celebrating its 44th anniversary this fall.
Third World has published such stellar poets, writer and historians as Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Derrick Bell, John Henrik Clarke, Lerone Bennett, Jr., Gloria Naylor and Acklyn Lynch.
In 2006, Third World Press published the Covenant With Black America, with introduction by Tavis Smiley, which reached No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list.
With his wife and partner of 37 years, Dr. Carol D. Lee, Madhubuti, also supports the Third World Press Foundation, which focuses on literacy, cultural knowledge, family stability, community cohesiveness and empowerment.
TWP has had a forty-year partnership with the Institute of Positive Education that operates four schools that provide an African-centered education to more than 1,000 young people each day: New Concept School, a preschool; Betty Shabazz International School (K-8); Barbara Ann Sizemore Academy (K-8); and Dusable Leadership Academy (9-12).
“Our mission for over 44 years was/is to build independent Black institutions that would not betray the legacy of W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Carter G. Woodson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mary McLeod Bethune and thousands of other African Americans too numerous to name,” Madhubuti says.
