Been thinking about Lerone Bennett Jr. a lot lately. About how serious he is.  About how he accomplished more with 10 books than others with 20-plus. (And most of the 10 shaped the entire development of Black history in the 20th century!) About how he, Du Bois and Diop were the only historians I remember John Henrik Clarke writing articles about. About those Ebony “encyclopedias” I grew up with, and stole from my mother when I moved to Maryland almost 20 years ago.

I’m 43, and have produced no major work. I think 45 (2013) might be the year to try to walk down Lerone Bennett’s road.