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Ronald O. Howell
Associate Professor
English
Location: 4161 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x3663
Fax: 718.951.4612
Email:
Ron Howell spent three decades as a working journalist. He was a foreign correspondent in Latin America and the Caribbean. He covered the Middle East during the 1991 Iraq War. He speaks Spanish and French, and understands Haitian Creole. His current book, published in 2019 by Fordham University Press, is a biography/memoir titled Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker. Baker, born in 1898 on the Caribbean island of Nevis, in 1948 became Brooklyn's first black elected official. He was also Howell's maternal grandfather. Howell also wrote One Hundred Jobs: A Panorama of Work in the American City, published by The New Press. Howell has written thousands of articles over the decades for numerous journals, books, magazines and newspapers. He was the first journalist to report that Assata Shakur, on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted List, is living in Cuba as a refugee. Howell spent a week with her in Havana before publishing the story with Newsday.
Education:
M.S., Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism - 1975 (Journalism)
B.A., Yale College - 1970 (History)
Areas of Expertise:
Howell's recent book, Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker, is about a Caribbean immigrant who in 1948 was elected to the State Assembly, becoming the first black elected official in Brooklyn. Over the past three years Howell has been publishing articles about gentrification and the plight of young black and Latino males. Howell enjoys creating websites and doing videos, but his first love is seeing his name in print.
Books and Publications
"Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker" (Fordham University Press, 2019) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2019
"Frank Morton almost became the first black elected official in Brooklyn in 1920, but the machine won, by one vote," article in The New York Daily News, July 21, 2019
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-frank-morton-brooklyn-republican-democrat-district-attorney-caban-20190721-ysquw3q4djb4naiwuhjvdg54h4-story.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"Nix sex roles for district leaders," Jan. 29, 2019. NY Daily News. (This grew out of what I learned about gender divisions and male chauvinism in local politics during research for "Boss of Black Brooklyn."
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-district-leaders-20190129-story.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"Walt Whitman, black Brooklyn, Wounded Knee and me," an opinion column in The Brooklyn Eagle, May 28, 2019
https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/05/28/opinion-walt-whitman-black-brooklyn-wounded-knee-and-me/
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
"How Alexander Hamilton Inspired Bertram Baker, Brooklyn's First Black Elected Official," article in The New York Times, Nov. 2, 2018:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/nyregion/how-alexander-hamilton-inspired-bertram-baker-brooklyns-first-black-elected-official.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2018
"Remembering William C. Thompson and a bygone era of NYC black politics," Dec. 27, 2018, NY Daily News.
https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-william-c-thompson-20181226-story.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2018
"United Airlines, Cuba and the virtues of socialism: What the aisle-dragging episode meant to me"
Daily News, April 12.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/united-cuba-virtues-socialism-article-1.3049286
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
"We will fight for the oppressed as Jimmy Breslin did," Daily News, March 19.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fight-oppressed-jimmy-breslin-article-1.3002811
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
"A quarter-century after Crown Heights riots, the Brooklyn neighborhood battles to hold onto its territory, " Daily News, Aug. 21.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/new-fight-crown-heights-article-1.2759864
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"After the election, a racial reckoning: Whites backed Trump, and not for economic reasons," Daily News, Nov. 13.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/whites-backed-trump-not-economic-reasons-article-1.2869762
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Anger, fear and the city's 'thugs,'" The New York Daily News, Jan. 10.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ron-howell-anger-fear-city-thugs-article-1.2490631
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Brother to brother: A letter to Barack Obama telling him 'What Cuba Can Teach America About Race.'" The Daily Beast Website, March 21.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/21/an-open-letter-from-a-black-american-to-president-obama-on-his-visit-to-cuba.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Can objective, independent journalism survive a Donald Trump presidency? " Newsday, Nov. 13.
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/can-the-objective-independent-journalism-survive-a-donald-trump-presidency-1.12605428
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Fidel Castro was an unwavering champion of racial equality," Daily News, Nov. 27.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/fidel-castro-unwavering-champion-racial-equality-article-1.2888264
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Is this how black Bed-Stuy dies? A lifelong resident laments, and fights, the gentrification tide," The New York Daily News, March 13.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ron-howell-black-bed-stuy-dies-article-1.2561864
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Journalist Marta Rojas: an unrecognized witness to Cuban history," The Miami Herald, pg. 17. March 20.
The article is about an octogenarian Cuban novelist/journalist, who Howell maintains is one of the most insightful, and overlooked, intellectuals of the Americas.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article67246807.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"My time with Fidel Castro,"Newsday, Nov. 26
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/remembering-my-time-with-fidel-castro-in-cuba-1.12674880
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Red, Black and Green: From Marcus Garvey to Micah Johnson," Daily Beast, July 14.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/14/the-flag-dallas-shooter-micah-johnson-disgraced.html
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
"Catholicism, Francis, NYC & me: Reflections on race and a changing city," The New York Daily News, Sept. 23.
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ron-howell-catholicism-francis-nyc-article-1.2370392
(Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"The wars my father fought: My dad, scarred by military segregation, struggled with the responsibilities of family," The New York Daily News, Nov. 11 (Veterans Day)
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ronald-howell-wars-father-fought-article-1.2430076
(Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
"Ahmed Obafemi Recalls 1983 Meeting With Rev. Al Sharpton and His Bugged Briefcase," New York Daily News, front page, April 13. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Finding Our Fathers," a feature spread with personal stories highlighting the critical need for a recognition of the importance of fatherhood in the black community in America. New York Daily News, July 27. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Garner Case: Worse than Ferguson. Andrew Cuomo Should Have Named a Special Prosecutor as His Father Did" op-ed. New York Daily News, Dec. 3. The article unfavorably compares current Governor Cuomo with his father, former Governor Mario Cuomo, who appointed a special prosecutor during a critical and racially tense episode three decades previously. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"Goodbye, My Bed-Stuy," an op-ed spread, New York Daily News, Oct. 19. The article shows that time, via gentrification, is doing what "Power Broker" Robert Moses tried and failed to do in mid-20th century. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"If Black Men Have No Future, Neither Does America." QZ (Quartz, the ideas publication of the Atlantic Media Company), Aug. 20. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"The Media Need Al Sharpton More Than Black America Does." QZ (Quartz, the ideas publication of the Atlantic Media Company), Aug. 26. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"There Are Lessons for the U.S. in Jean-Claude Duvalier's Death." QZ (Quartz, the ideas publication of the Atlantic Media Company), Oct. 5. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"We Need to Hear the Stories of These 382 New Yorkers Killed by Heroin, Too," QZ (Quartz, the ideas publication of the Atlantic Media Company), Feb. 6. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
"The Brown Girl of Bed-Stuy's Brownstones." The Brooklyn Rail, December 2012-January 2013. The article explores the writings and significance to central Brooklyn of Paule Marshall '53, author of the classic coming-of-age novel Brown Girl, Brownstones.
http://brooklynrail.org/2012/12/local/the-brown-girl-of-bed-stuys-brownstones (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2013
"Brooklyn's Congressional Battle Heats Up." The New York Amsterdam News. Article portrayed the contest between Hakeem Jeffries and Charles Barron as one of the most significant in the nation: a choice between polar-opposite black politicians in the age of Obama. April 19-25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"Saving the Soul of a Gentrifying Community: The Story of Monique Greenwood." The New York Amsterdam News, New York City's oldest black newspaper. The article is about Monique Greenwood as a Bedford Stuyvesant commercial property owner who insists that her entrepreneurial tenants live in the community. She is also known to forgive monthly rents of businesses going through rough patches. July 26-Aug. 1. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"The New York TImes Gives a (Very Reluctant) Kudos to Al Jazeera." Columbia Journalism Review website. The article argued that The New York Times, in its article about the cholera epidemic in Haiti, did not give sufficient credit to the Arab news service Al Jazeera, which was otherwise praised in the international journalism community for its outstanding reporting on the epidemic. April 13. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"The New York Times Goes to the Dogs." Columbia Journalism Review website. Article showed that the number of stories about dogs has increased substantially since Jill Abramson took over as editor-in-chief of the paper. Abramson is the author of The Puppy Diaries, about her deep love for dogs. The article went viral on journalism websites around the country. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"The Tragedy of Charlie Rangel." The New York Daily News. Article ran two days before the June primary election in which Congressman Charles Rangel faced Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat. The article was based, in large part, on research I did showing Rangel in 2009 told a Congressional Committee that police in New York City did not make arrests for marijuana. Rangel said this at a time when police, in fact, were making 50,000 arrests annually for pot possession. June 24. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"Towns Withdraws: The End of an Era." Our Time Press, a central Brooklyn weekly newspaper. Article called Bedford Stuyvesant the "Ohio" of the Congressional race that was receiving significant media attention at the time, between Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Councilman Charles Barron, to replace retiring Congressman Ed Towns. April 19-25. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"What the Jesuits Taught JoePa." The New York Daily News. Article reflected on the now-shuttered Brooklyn Preparatory High School -- the alma mater of college football legend Joe Paterno, and my alma mater as well. The article drew dozens of e-mails and phone calls in response. Jan 25. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
"Why Jeffries Will Defeat Barron Handily." Bed-Stuy Patch, a website affiliated with AOL. Multimedia interview with Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory University and author of the recent book The New Black Politician: Cory Booker, Newark, and Post-Racial America. New York University Press. May 13. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2012
"Before Their Time." Yale Alumni Magazine. Article showed that alumni of color from 1960s classes were dying at a much higher rate than white alumni. There was an immediate and continuing reaction to the article, including published comments from former Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean and from Howard S. Friedman, author of The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life From the Landmark Eight-Decade Study. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
"Yale Grad: My Classmates Are Dying." The Root, a website affiliated with The Washington Post. It was written at the request of the top editor at The Root and used some of the data from the Yale Alumni Magazine article about mortality rates of black students from the 1960s, but the article was otherwise original in style. It included details about a black Yale grad from New Jersey who had been cultivating marijuana and was murdered in summer 2011. June 14. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
Wrote several articles in The Amsterdam News and Our Times Press denouncing the city police department's stop-and-frisk policy that appeared to single out black and Latino young men. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
One Hundred Jobs: A Panorama of Work in the American City. The New Press. Cover notes by Howard Zinn, praising the book. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2000
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Received Outstanding Book Award from the National Association of Black Journalists on Aug. 8, at NABJ's national convention in Miami, Aug. 8, 2019. Howell was interviewed on stage by Nancy Ancrum, editorial page editor of The Miami Herald. (Awards and Honors) 2019
On December 11, 2016, I was the honoree at the 44th annual gathering of the Brooklyn Oldtimers Foundation, which has given several hundred thousand dollars in scholarship money to Central Brooklyn high school students. The plaque says: "Presented to Ronald Howell, International Reporter, Professor of Journalistic Writing and Video Editing. A son of Bed-Stuy, you never forgot your roots. Your outstanding journalistic skills have been a breath of fresh air in your published articles. May you continue enriching the minds of your students." (Awards and Honors) 2016
Research Activities
Did research on Cuban politics and history for 11 days in Havana, Cuba, mid-January, meeting government officials, professors and writers, after receiving a Tow Travel Fellowship from Brooklyn College. 2017
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
One of four Yale alumni/panelists opening a three-day gathering titled "Inspiring Global Leadership in the 21st Century" in celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Afro-American Cultural Center. New Haven, Conn., Oct. 17. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2014
Professional Leadership
As a Vice Chair of the Black Faculty and Staff Association, organized and moderated a "Black History Month Tribute to Dr. Khalil G. Muhammad." Muhammad is the Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He is scheduled this summer to begin professorships at Harvard and Radcliffe. Held Feb. 11. Sponsored by the Black Faculty and Staff Association, the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Black and Latino Male Initiative. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2016
"Streets by VICE: Bedford Ave, Brooklyn." Selected by the popular online news service Vice to speak for Bed-Stuy, in this imaginative exploration of Brooklyn's longest street: Bedford Avenue. Vice highlighted several neighborhoods the avenue. Vice has been doing this with a number of big cities across the United States. Dec. 15. The 20-minute video has had half a million views.
http://youtu.be/PIuFayQ2zUg
(Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2015
"Buried in the Bitter Waters: Racial Motivated Violence, Racial Cleansing and the Turbulent History of African American Entrepreneurship under Segregation" panel participant, with Baruch College Professor Clarence Taylor. 9th Annual Conference of the CUNY Black Male Initiative. Moderator: Baruch College Professor Arthur Lewin. Baruch College (CUNY). New York, Oct. 3. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Advisor, The Op-Ed Project, a New York-based national organization for women scholars who are seeking help in crafting articles for publication in newspapers and online publications.
(Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
During "College and Career Readiness Day," spent two hours going from one class to another, speaking with students at MS. 35, the Stephen Decatur Middle School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, about my career and my life. May 14. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Organizing and moderating a panel titled "Bed-Stuy in Crisis," about the rapid gentrification of the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, the good and the bad of that gentrification, with special attention to the displacement of low-income renters. The panel will offer differing perspectives. Brooklyn College Student Center. Nov. 6. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2014
Organized and moderated a panel featuring Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who came to Brooklyn College on Oct. 25 and answered questions from students about the state of American politics, stop and frisk, student indebtedness and other topics. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
Sponsored a Black History Month lecture by Dr. Khalil Muhammad, the new director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and author of the book Condemnation of Blackness. Muhammad offered a historical background for the stop-and-frisk policy of the New York City Police Department. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2012
Sponsored a standing-room-only panel at Brooklyn College on the city's stop-and-frisk policy, featuring Queens College sociologist Harry Levine, as well as City Councilmen Dan Halloran and Jumaane Williams. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2011
Appeared on a CUNY-TV program, "Independent Sources," reporting on the economic woes of Johnson Publishing Company, which publishes Ebony and Jet magazines. (Between 1978 and 1980, I was the New York editor of Ebony.) (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Did volunteer reporting and editing for the New York-based Haitian Times weekly newspaper, following the January earthquake that killed a quarter million people in Haiti. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Moderated a panel of journalists at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism following the Haiti earthquake. The panel included reporters from The New York Times, The Haitian Times and ABC News. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Published numerous articles and videos for the website BrooklynRon. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2010
Pedagogical Achievements
"Journalism Without Walls," serving as professor with a group of nine Stony Brook University students for a three-week, three-credit course on foreign reporting. The group traveled to Cuba, spending seven days there and created a website featuring student articles and videos about the trip. January 5-14. 2016
Lead faculty member in "Journalsim Without Walls," a joint project with Stony Brook University. Created a winter-session course involving readings about Cuba and discussions with foreign policy experts. Led 10 students on an eight-day trip to Cuba, and we produced a website with more than a dozen articles and videos. One student article (about Cuban baseball) was published in the Detroit Free Press. 2012
Community Activities
On May 4 I was on a "Navigating the Newsroom" panel at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. The purpose was to help students deal with challenges they face in internships or jobs. Gender bias and to deal with it were among the issues discussed. Other panelists were Aisha Al-Muslim, Newsday reporter; Sharon Jautz, Director of Talent Acquisition at SANDOW Media; and Katasha Harley, Senior Director, Human Resources for Elizabeth Arden, formerly of Turner Broadcasting and Time, Inc. 2017
On May 9, I represented the New York Association of Black Journalists, on a panel organized by the Catalyst Network Foundation. The Foundation seeks to provide networking opportunities for black and Latino high school students in New York City and Washington, D.C. The title of this event was "Combating Systemic Issues: Leveraging Professionals for Community Revitalization." On the panel with me were: Patria Frias-Colon, Esq., Brooklyn Borough Chief, Family Court Division of the New York City Law Department; Jason Clark, Esq., President-Elect of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association; Naquan Thomas, former Rikers Island inmate and now Rikers Island social worker; Sierra Brown, a social worker in the New York City public school system; and Adelia Gibson, a social worker in the New York City public school system. The event was held at the Taj Lounge on West 21 Street in Manhattan. 2017
Keynote speaker at an evening fundraising event marking the 15th anniversary of the Indypendent newspaper. Oct. 15. The Indypendent is a "free paper for free people." It has offices in Downtown Brooklyn. The print edition comes out 13 times a year and circulates throughout New York City. It has a print and online audience of more than 100,000 readers. 2015
The featured guest on "Education at the Crossroads," a weekly WBAI radio program. The program is hosted by journalist/scholar Basir Mchawi, who invited Howell to speak about Howell?s web postings a year previously. Howell had written that New York City police officer James Frascatore had violent tendencies and had to be controlled by city police officials. A year after Howell?s warning, Frascatore tackled and roughed up black retired tennis star, in a case of mistaken identify. Howell and Mchawi exchanged ideas about police brutality during the hour-long program. 2015
Spoke for good part of an afternoon about my life and career with a dozen black and Latino male students, in the "Mouth of the Phoenix Talk Series," developed by the Black and Latino Male Initiative at Brooklyn College. Sept. 16. 2014