Abner Berry

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Berry in 1947

Abner Berry (June 12, 1902 – June 24, 1987) was an American journalist and Communist Party organizer.

Biography

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Berry was born in Texas where his three siblings performed as the musical trio The Berry Brothers.[1] After working in a factory, Berry began his career as a journalist in Houston.[2] Berry moved from Kansas City to Harlem in 1935 to work for the League of Struggle for Negro Rights.[3] He replaced Harry Haywood as the leader of the group.[4] In Harlem, Berry worked to organize support for Ethiopia against Italy during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.[5] At the same time, Berry was critical of aspects of Ethiopian society, opposing its use of slavery and feudalism.[6]

Berry was an active member of the Communist Party, working on efforts to encourage social and political interaction between white and Black Party members.[7] He eventually became the Negro Affairs Editor for the Daily Worker.[8]

In September 1957, Berry was photographed in a group with Martin Luther King Jr. at the Highlander School, leading to accusations that King attended a "Communist Training School".[9]

In January 1958, Berry resigned from the Communist Party along with John Gates and Lester Rodney, in response to Khruschev's Secret Speech and its revelations about Stalinism.[10] Berry worked for the United Nations in 1960, organizing the Afro News Service which focused on stories about African politics.[11]

Berry died in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, following a stroke.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Lynn, Denise (2020-07-30). "Black Radical Abner Berry and the Limitations of Liberal Alliances - AAIHS". Retrieved 2025-08-11.
  2. ^ Horne, Gerald (1994). Black Liberation/Red Scare: Ben Davis and the Communist Party. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 58. ISBN 9780874134728.
  3. ^ Solomon, Mark (2009). The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-1936. University Press of Mississippi. p. 264. ISBN 9781496801043.
  4. ^ Naison, Mark (1983). Communists in Harlem during the Depression. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 135. ISBN 0252006445.
  5. ^ Bush, Roderick D. (2000). We Are Not What We Seem: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in the American Century. New York: NYU Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780814713181.
  6. ^ Wallace, Mike (2025). Gotham at War: A History of New York City from 1933 To 1945. Oxford University Press. p. 45. ISBN 9780199384518.
  7. ^ Smith, Page (1987). Redeeming the time : A people's history of the 1920s and the New Deal. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 201. ISBN 9780070585751.
  8. ^ Levin, Matthew (2013). Cold War University: Madison and the New Left in the Sixties. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 64. ISBN 9780299292836.
  9. ^ Dunbar, Anthony P. (1981). Against the grain : Southern radicals and prophets, 1929-1959. The University Press of Virginia. p. 251. ISBN 0813908922.
  10. ^ Silber, Irwin (2003). Press Box Red: The Story of Lester Rodney, the Communist who Helped Break the Color Line in American Sports. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. p. 215. ISBN 9781566399746.
  11. ^ Barnes, Roscoe (July 17, 1987). "Berry noted for civil rights role". The Nashville Graphic. p. 1.
  12. ^ "ABNER W. BERRY (Published 1987)". The New York Times. 1987-06-27. Retrieved 2025-08-11.