Charlie Cobb:

Biography:

Charles E. Cobb, Jr. is a journalist and former member of National Geographic Magazine's editorial staff. He currently is Senior Writer and Diplomatic Correspondent for AllAfrica.com, a key provider of news from and about Africa.

From 1962-1967 he acted as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Mississippi. He began his journalism career in 1974 as a reporter for WHUR Radio in Washington, D.C. In 1976 he joined the staff of National Public Radio as a foreign affairs reporter, bringing to that network its first regular coverage of Africa. From 1985 to 1997, Cobb was a National Geographic staff member, traveling the globe to write stories on places from Eritrea to Russia's Kuril Islands. He is also the co-author, with civil rights organizer and educator Robert P. Moses, of Radical Equations, Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project. . His latest book published in January 2008 was On the Road to Freedom, a Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail. On July 24, 2008 the National Association of Black Journalists honored Cobb’s work by inducting him into their Hall of Fame.

Content of Video:

Charlie Cobb argued America has yet to address its racist past and present during his keynote address. Cobb argued various claims, such as Obama’s election came as a result of the MFDP challenge, Ella Baker was one of the foremost leaders of the modern CRM, and without young people and local activists such as Amzie Moore or Sam Block, trailblazers such as President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not have shattered their respective glass ceilings to hold such prestigious positions. 

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