Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American Marxist historian and political

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. He wrote more than 50 books, mostly in the fields of

African-American history African-American history started with the forced transportation of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Africans to North America in the 16th and 17th centuries. The European colonization of the Americas, and the resulting Atlantic slave trade, ...

and general

U.S. history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

, most notably, ''American Negro Slave Revolts'' (1943), a classic in the field. He also compiled the 7-volume ''Documentary History of the Negro People'' (1951–1994). In addition, he compiled a wide variety of primary documents supporting study of African-American history. He was the literary executor for

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

. From the 1940s, Aptheker was a prominent figure in U.S.

scholarly The scholarly method or scholarship is the body of principles and practices used by scholars and academics to make their claims about their subjects of expertise as valid and trustworthy as possible, and to make them known to the scholarly pu ...

discourse. Aptheker was

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

ed in academia during the 1950s because of his Communist Party membership. He succeeded V. J. Jerome in 1955 as editor of '' Political Affairs'', a communist theory magazine.

Biography

Early life and education

Herbert Aptheker was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, the youngest child of a wealthy

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family. In 1931, when he was 16, he accompanied his father on a business trip to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. There he learned first-hand about the

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. No universally accepted model ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s under

Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow laws were U.S. state, state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, "Jim Crow (character), Ji ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. The trip proved shocking and life-altering for Aptheker, who upon his return to Brooklyn began writing a column called "The Dark Side of The South" for his

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brookly ...

newspaper.Murrell, ''"The Most Dangerous Communist in the World,"'' pg. 5. Aptheker graduated from high school in the spring of 1933, during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Although admitted to Columbia University, he was unable to gain admission to the main campus of Columbia College, which had already filled a quota set for Jews by college president

Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler (April 2, 1862 – December 7, 1947) was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel ...

. Instead, Aptheker was relegated to enrolling at Seth Low Junior College in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

, a satellite school established by Butler as a ''de facto'' dumping ground for Jews and ethnic Italians admitted in excess of Butler's quotas. During his time at Seth Low, Aptheker was first drawn into political activity, helping to organize anti-war rallies and speaking on behalf of the communist-backed National Student League (NSL) and the socialist-backed Student League for Industrial Democracy.Murrell, ''"The Most Dangerous Communist in the World,"'' pg. 6. He began reading the Communist Party's daily newspaper, '' The Daily Worker,'' at this time as well as the party's literary-artistic monthly, '' The New Masses,'' although he did not yet become a member of the party. After two years at Seth Low, Aptheker was allowed to enroll at Columbia's main campus in

Morningside Heights Morningside Heights is a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Morningside Drive to the east, 125th Street to the north, 110th Street to the south, and Riverside Drive to the west. Morningsi ...

in Manhattan, but not with full status as a member of Columbia College. Instead, he was classified as a "university undergraduate", which placed him on track for a lesser

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree rather than the higher-status

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, which he received in 1936. At Columbia, Aptheker continued to engage in the anti-war movement, both through the NSL and the American League Against War and Fascism, a broader

mass organization A communist front (or a mass organization in communist parlance) is a political organization identified as a front organization, allied with or under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organi ...

of the Communist Party during its Popular Front period. Aptheker earned his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from Columbia in 1937 and a Ph.D. in 1943 from the same institution. In September 1939, he joined the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

. He was awarded a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in sociology in 1945.

Marriage and World War II

In 1942 Aptheker married Fay Philippa Aptheker (1905–1999), a first cousin who was also a native of Brooklyn. She was a union organizer and political activist. They were married for 62 years, until her death. Their daughter, Bettina, was born in 1944 at the U.S. Army Hospital in

Fort Bragg, North Carolina Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

during Aptheker's service in World War II. Aptheker participated in

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

, the invasion of northern France; by 1945 he had been promoted to the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

. He commanded the all-black 350th Field Artillery Battalion.Robin D.G. Kelley, "Interview of Herbert Aptheker," ''The Journal of American History,'' vol. 87, no. 1 (June 2000), pp. 151–167 In December 1950, after failing to respond to the U.S. Army's letter of inquiry about his Communist political activity, he lost his commission after an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

Work in the South

Returning with his family to the South after the war, Aptheker became an educational worker for the Food and Tobacco Workers Union. Shortly afterward, he served as secretary of the "Abolish Peonage Committee," which had been established in 1940 by activists in New York and Chicago, with the support of the

International Labor Defense The International Labor Defense (ILD) (1925–1947) was a legal advocacy organization established in 1925 in the United States as the American section of the Comintern's International Red Aid network. The ILD defended Sacco and Vanzetti, was active ...

(IDL), an arm of the Communist Party. " Peons" in the South, the vast majority of whom were African American, were typically rural sharecroppers who became tied to

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s by the debt they owed to the plantation owners, or to local merchants. This practice had effectively maintained African-American

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

in all but name.Douglas A. Blackmon, ''Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II'', 2009 Given repeated publicity about peonage abuses, in 1941 Attorney General

Francis Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle (May 9, 1886 – October 4, 1968) was an American lawyer and judge who was the United States Attorney General during World War II. He also served as the primary American judge during Nuremberg trials following World War I ...

had directed all federal prosecutors to "actively investigate and try more peonage cases." On the verge of entering World War II, the US would make more effort to reduce rural peonage. Similarly, southern states had run

convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally abolished during the 20th century. Under this system, private individuals and corporations could lease la ...

programs, hiring out convicts to industries and taking the fees as revenue. Several southern states had banned convict leasing to industries in the early 20th century: Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Florida by 1923.

Research in African-American history

Aptheker's master's thesis, a study of

Nat Turner's Rebellion Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels, made up of enslaved African Americans, killed b ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

in 1831, laid the groundwork for his future work on the history of American slave revolts. Aptheker asserted Turner's heroism, demonstrating how his rebellion was rooted in resistance to the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. His ''Negro Slave Revolts in the United States 1526–1860'' (1939), includes a table of documented slave revolts by year and state. His doctoral dissertation, ''American Negro Slave Revolts'', was published in 1943. Doing research in Southern libraries and archives, he uncovered 250 similar episodes. Aptheker set forth

historiographical Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

arguments, challenging some conservative histories, most notably the perspective in the writings of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

-born historian Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, who was considered part of the Dunning School at Columbia University. Historians of this group had been critical of

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

and argued that slavery was no worse than urban labor conditions. Phillips had characterized enslaved African Americans as childlike, inferior, and uncivilized; he argued that slavery was a benign institution; and defended the preservation of the Southern plantation system. Such works had been common in the field before Aptheker's scholarship. Aptheker long emphasized

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

scholarship and lifelong struggle for African Americans to achieve equality. In his work as a historian, he compiled a documentary history of African Americans in the United States, a monumental collection which he started publishing in 1951. It eventually resulted in seven volumes of primary documents, a tremendous resource for African-American studies.

Post-war activism

During the 1950s and the period of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

, Aptheker was

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

in academia because of his membership in the Communist Party. He was unable to obtain an appointment as a university lecturer for a decade. Aptheker served on the National Committee of the CPUSA from 1957 to 1991. For several years in the 1960s and 1970s, he was executive director of the American Institute For Marxist Studies. In 1966, he ran in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

election in New York's 12th Congressional District for the

Peace and Freedom Party The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a socialist political party in the United States which operates mostly in California. It was formed in 1966 from anti–Vietnam War and pro–civil rights movements. PFP operates both as an organization unt ...

; he received 3,562 votes. Given his work on African-American documents and history, Aptheker was chosen by

to be his literary executor. A strong opponent of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, Aptheker lectured on the subject on college campuses nationwide. From 1969 to 1973, Aptheker taught a full-year course annually in Afro-American History at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

. Aptheker died at age 87 on March 17, 2003, in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, the population was 82,376 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Mountain V ...

. His wife had died in 1999.

Allegation of child abuse

Bettina Aptheker is a professor of

feminist studies ''Feminist Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering women's studies that was established in 1972. It is an independent nonprofit publication housed at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Besides scholarly artic ...

at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. In her 2006 memoir, ''Intimate Politics,'' she claimed that she was

sexually abused Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is r ...

by her father from the age of 3 to 13. Her memories of the events began to arise in 1999, after her mother's death and when she was working on a memoir. She sought counseling for her dissociation and recovered memory.Alt URL
She also wrote that she and her father reconciled before his death in 2003. Her assertion caused great controversy among historians and activists. Some raised questions about her credibility; others questioned the Old Left's desire to bury the news, and still others wondered at how to look at Aptheker's work in view of this information. In her memoir, Bettina Aptheker wrote more at length about her father's work on African-American history. She thought that he celebrated black resistance in part "to compensate for his deep shame about the way, he believed, the Jews had acted during the Holocaust." The controversy about her claims about her father continued for months, with many essays and letters published on the History News Network hosted by

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

. In November 2007, the historian Christopher Phelps published an overview of the issues. He also wrote that he had interviewed Kate Miller, who had been present during Bettina Aptheker's 1999 conversation with her father about the abuse, and confirmed her account.Christopher Phelps, "Herbert Aptheker: His daughter's partner confirms molestation charge"
''The Nation,'' 5 November 2007, reprinted at History News Network, accessed 18 January 2012

Works

*
The Negro People in America: A Critique of Gunnar Myrdal’s “An American Dilemma”
' (International Publishers: New York, 1946) * "Mississippi Reconstruction and the Negro Leader Charles Caldwell", '' Science & Society'' (Fall 1947) * ''Afro American History: 1910–1932'' (Citadel Press: New York, 1951) * ''History and Reality'' (1955), later republished as
The Era of McCarthyism
' (

Marzani & Munsell Marzani & Munsell (1955–1967) was an American book publisher of the mid-20th Century, based in Manhattan, which published liberal and leftist books, starting with ''False Witness'' by Harvey Matusow. History After release from prison in 1951, ...

: New York, 1962) * ''The American Revolution 1763–1783'' (International Publishers: New York, 1960) *
The American Civil War
' (International Publishers: New York, 1961) * ''American Negro Slave Revolts'' (1943) (Cameron Associates: NY, 1955) *
Toward Negro Freedom
' (New Century Publishers: New York, 1956) * ''Documentary History of the Negro People'', 7 volumes (Carol Publishing Group: NJ, 1951–1994) *
The Truth about Hungary
' (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1957) *
The Colonial Era
' (International Publishers: New York, 1959) *
And Why Not Every Man? Documentary Story of the Fight Against Slavery in the U.S.
' (Seven Seas Books: CA, 1961) *
Dare We Be Free? The Meaning of the Attempt To Outlaw the Communist Party
' (New Century Publishers: Dublin, 1961) *
Soul of the Republic: The Negro Today
' (

, New York, 1964) *
“One Continual Cry”: David Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829–1830), Its Setting & Its Meaning
' (New York: Humanities Press, 1965) * ''Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion: Including the 1831 "Confessions"'' (Dover: NY, 1966) *
Mission to Hanoi
' (International Publishers: New York, 1966) *
Czechoslovakia and Counter-Revolution: Why the Socialist Countries Intervened
' (New Outlook Publishers, New York, 1969)

Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of human art. ''Telos'' is the root of the modern term teleology, the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, ...

04 (Fall 1969) *
The Urgency of Marxist-Christian Dialogue
' (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1970) *
Afro-American History: The Modern Era
', (Citadel Press, Secaucus, 1971) * ''American Negro Slave Revolts'' (International Publishers: New York, 1974) * ''Early Years of the Republic: From the End of the Revolution to the First Administration of Washington'' (International Publishers: New York, 1976) *
The World of C. Wright Mills
' (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1977) *
American Foreign Policy and the Cold War
' (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1977) *
Unfolding Drama
',(International Publishers: New York, 1979) * ''The Nature of Democracy, Freedom & Revolution'' (International Publishers: New York, 1981) *
Racism, Imperialism & Peace: Selected Essays
' (MEP Publications: MN, 1987) *
Abolitionism: A Revolutionary Movement
' (Twayne Publishers: CT, 1989) * ''The Literary Legacy Of W. E. B. Du Bois'' (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1989) *
To Be Free: Studies in American Negro History
' (Citadel Press: New York, 1991) * ''Anti-Racism in U.S. History: The First Two Hundred Years'', (Praeger: CT, 1992)

Works featuring an introduction or foreword by Aptheker

* Washington, Booker T., Herbert Aptheker (Foreword), ''The Negro in the South'' 2nd ed., (Carol Publishing Group: NJ, 1989) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Introduction), ''The Quest of the Silver Fleece''

Works edited by Aptheker

* Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker(Ed.), ''The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century'', (International Publishers: NY, 1968) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906–1960'', (Monthly Review Press: NY, 1973) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Contributions by W. E. B. Du Bois in Government Publications and Proceedings'', (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1980) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker, Bettina Aptheker, David Graham Dnm Dubois (Ed.),''Prayers for Dark People'', (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1980) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Selections from the Crisis'', (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1980) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois in Non-Periodical Literature Edited by Others'', (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1982) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Creative Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois: A Pageant, Poems, Short Stories, and Playlets'', (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1985) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Against Racism: Unpublished Essays, Papers, Addresses, 1887–1961'', (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1985) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Newspaper Columns'', (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1986) * Knutson, April A., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''Ideology and Independence in the Americas'', (MEP Publications: MN, 1989) * Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), ''The Correspondence of W. E. B. Du Bois'', (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1997)

References

Research resources

"Herbert Aptheker Papers, 1842–2005"
(122 linear ft.), Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA
Text Finding Aid

External links

Bettina and Herbert Aptheker
History News Network.
Christopher Phelps, "Herbert Aptheker: The Contradictions of History"
''Chronicle of Higher Education,'' 12 July 2006
Anthony G. Flood, "Herbert Aptheker: Apothecary for a Red Teenager"
Anthony G. Flood website
A. J. Muste Papers
fro
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aptheker, Herbert 20th-century American historians Historians of the United States Historians of African Americans Jewish American historians American Marxist historians American male non-fiction writers Activists for African-American civil rights American civil rights activists American anti–Vietnam War activists Trade unionists from New York (state) Peace and Freedom Party politicians Members of the Communist Party USA Jewish socialists Jewish American atheists Columbia University alumni United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II Erasmus Hall High School alumni Activists from New York (state) Writers from Brooklyn 1915 births 2003 deaths Historians from New York (state)