Selwyn Cudjoe facts for kids

Selwyn Cudjoe (born 1 December 1943) is a Trinidadian professor, historian, and writer. He teaches about African and Caribbean cultures at Wellesley College. Professor Cudjoe is an expert in Caribbean literature and the history of ideas in the Caribbean. He teaches classes on African-American writing, African writing, and books by black women and Caribbean authors.

About Selwyn Cudjoe's Life

Selwyn Reginald Cudjoe was born in Tacarigua, Trinidad and Tobago, on December 1, 1943. His family had lived in Tacarigua for many generations. He grew up on a sugar estate, which is a large farm where sugar cane is grown. His ancestors had worked on this same estate. His great-grandfather, Jonathon Cudjoe, was born there in 1833, the last year of formal slavery.

Education and Teaching Career

Selwyn Cudjoe went to Tacarigua EC School. When he was 21, in 1964, he moved to the United States. He continued his studies at Fordham University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1969. He then got a master's degree in American Literature in 1972. He also studied at Columbia University and earned his Ph.D. in American Literature from Cornell University in 1976.

Before joining Wellesley College in 1986, Professor Cudjoe taught at several other universities. These included Ithaca College, Cornell University, Harvard, Brandeis, Fordham University, and Ohio. He also taught classes at Auburn State Prison and for a youth program called Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth-In-Action.

Professor Cudjoe has also held important roles in Trinidad and Tobago. He was a director at the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. He also served as president of the National Association for the Empowerment of African People in Trinidad and Tobago.

Selwyn Cudjoe's Writings

Professor Cudjoe has written many books. Some of his well-known works include Caribbean Visionary: A. R. F. Webber and the Making of the Guyanese Nation (2011). He also wrote The Role of Resistance in Caribbean Literature (2010). Another important book is Beyond Boundaries: The Intellectual Tradition of Trinidad and Tobago in the Nineteenth Century (2002).

The Slavemaster of Trinidad

In 2018, Professor Cudjoe released a book called The Slavemaster of Trinidad: William Hardin Burnley and the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World. A famous scholar named Henry Louis Gates, Jr said it was a "beautifully written and carefully researched" book. It tells the story of William Hardin Burnley, a plantation owner who was born in America, studied in England, and became rich in the Caribbean.

The book explains Burnley's public and private racism. It also shows how his life fit into the larger historical events of the early 1800s in the Atlantic world. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley, suggested that this book should be used in all schools across the country. The Slavemaster of Trinidad was also considered for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature in 2019.

Edited Books and Articles

Professor Cudjoe has also edited several books. One of these is Caribbean Women Writers. This book is a collection of essays from the first international conference on Caribbean women writers. He organized this conference at Wellesley College in 1988. More recently, he edited Narratives of Amerindians in Trinidad and Tobago; or, Becoming Trinbagonian (2016). This book is a collection of important documents about the history of the Amerindian people in Trinidad.

Professor Cudjoe writes a weekly column for the TnT Mirror newspaper. His work has also appeared in many other publications. These include The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Globe, and International Herald Tribune. He has also written for Baltimore Sun, Amsterdam News, Trinidad and Tobago Review, Callaloo, New Left Review, Harvard Educational Review, Essence, Trinidad Guardian, and Trinidad Express.

He has also created several documentaries. These include Tacarigua: A Village in Trinidad and Caribbean Women Writers (1994). He has also hosted shows for Trinidad and Tobago Television.