BOSTON (AP) – William Strickland, a longtime civil rights activist and supporter of the Black Power movement who worked with Malcolm X and other outstanding leaders within the Nineteen Sixties, has died. He was 87.

Strickland, whose death was confirmed on April 10 by a relative, first became involved in civil rights activities as a highschool student in Massachusetts. According to Peter Blackmer, a former student and now assistant professor of African and African American studies at Easter Michigan University, he was inspired by the writings of Richard Wright and James Baldwin while he was a student at Harvard.

“He made an incredible contribution to the black freedom movement that hasn’t really been recognized,” Blackmer said. “He argued that civil rights did not provide a sufficient framework for challenging the systems that were behind the oppression of Black communities throughout the diaspora.”

Strickland joined the Boston chapter of the Northern Student Movement within the early Nineteen Sixties, which provided support for sit-ins and other protests within the South. In 1963, he became the group’s executive director and from then on became a supporter of the Black Power movement, which emphasized racial pride, self-reliance and self-determination. Strickland also worked with Malcolm X, Baldwin and others in New York on rent strikes, school boycotts and protests against police brutality.

Amilcar Shabazz, a professor within the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of African American Studies on the University of Massachusetts, said Strickland followed a path very much like civil rights pioneer Du Bois.

“He went through a similar experience, committing himself to being an agent of social change in the world against the three main issues of the civil rights movement – ​​imperialism or militarism, racism and the economic injustice of plantation capitalism,” Shabazz said. “He committed himself against a triple evil. He did this through his learning, his teaching, his activism and the way he walked in the world.”

After the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Strickland co-founded the independent Black think tank, the Black World Institute. From its founding in 1969, it served for several years as a meeting place for black intellectuals.

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From there he joined the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he spent 40 years teaching political science and serving as director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers. He also traveled to Africa and the Caribbean, where, Shabazz said, he met with leaders of black liberation movements in Africa and Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Strickland has also written about racism and capitalism for several media outlets, including Essence and Souls, and has served as a consultant on several documentaries, including “Eyes on the Prize” and the PBS documentary “Malcolm X — Make It Plain,” Blackmer said.

Comparing him to Malcolm X, Blackmer said one of Strickland’s talents was the power to take necessary issues similar to “complex systems of oppression” and make them “understandable and accessible” to a popular audience.

“As a teacher, he taught us to think this way as students – so that we could understand and deconstruct racism, capitalism, imperialism, and at the same time be fearless and not be afraid to name the systems we deal with, a way to develop a strategy that challenges them challenge,” Blackmer said.

To those near him, Strickland was an mental giant with a sense of humor who was not afraid to “speak his mind.”

“He always spoke truth to power. He was that kind of guy,” said Earnestine Norman, his cousin, recalling their conversations, which frequently took place via the phone app FaceTime. They planned to go to Spain, where Strickland had a home before he began having health problems.

“He always spoke the truth about our culture, about being African in America and the struggles we faced,” she continued. “Sometimes it may need embarrassed some people or something, but his truth was his truth. His knowledge was his knowledge and he was not the kind of one who, as they are saying, bit his tongue.

NEW YORK (AP) – A Nigerian chess champion and advocate for kid’s education played chess non-stop for 60 hours in New York’s Times Square, breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to lift $1 million for the education of kids in Africa in a record-breaking attempt that began on Wednesday.

He intended to play the royal game for 58 hours, but continued playing until he reached 60 hours at around 12:40 on Saturday, thus exceeding current chess marathon record of 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds, achieved in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.

Guinness World Records has not yet publicly commented on Onakoya’s attempt. Sometimes it takes weeks for a corporation to substantiate a recent record.

Onakoya played against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, under Guinness World Record guidelines that any record attempt have to be made by two players who play repeatedly for the duration.

Support grew online and on stage, where a mixture of African music kept spectators and fans entertained with cheers and applause. Among the handfuls of people that supported Onakoya on stage was Nigerian music star Davido.

The record attempt is “the dream of millions of children across Africa without access to education,” said Onakoya, founding father of Chess in Slums Africa in 2018. The organization desires to support the education of a minimum of 1 million children in slums across the continent.

“My energy is at 100% now because my people are supporting me with music,” Onakoya said Thursday evening because the players passed the 24-hour mark.

On Onakoya’s menu: Lots of water and jollof rice, some of the famous West African dishes.

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For every hour of play, Onakoya and his opponent received only five minutes of rest. Sometimes breaks were grouped together, and Onakoya used them to meet up with the Nigerians and New Yorkers cheering him on. Sometimes he even joined of their dancing.

A total of $22,000 was raised in the primary 20 hours of the attempt, said Taiwo Adeyemi, Onakoya’s manager.

“The support from Nigerians in the US, world leaders, celebrities and hundreds of passersby has been overwhelming,” he said.

Onakoya’s ordeal was closely followed in Nigeria, where he often organizes chess competitions for young people living on the streets.

In this West African country, greater than 10 million school-age children are out of faculty – one in every of the best rates within the world.

Those who’ve publicly supported him include celebrities and public office holders, including former Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who wrote to Onakoya on the X social media platform: “Remember your personal strong words: ‘Great things may be done from a small place. ‘”