Agnieszka Tuszynska

This project proposes continued work on the manuscript of the biography of Willard Motley, 1909-1965, one of the most visionary Black leftist writers and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. Motley’s literary and activist labor highlights questions that progressive writers, thinkers, and organizers still grapple with today. Based on archival research, the project brings Motley out of obscurity with this first ever critical biography. The book will unearth the unjustly erased legacy of this author and visionary by uncovering the untold stories of Motley’s youth in Chicago's Englewood, his creative and political work traversing the Second City's diverse landscape, and the final chapter of his life in Mexico.