Una Mulzac (April 19, 1923 – January 21, 2012) was an African American bookseller and founder of the Liberation Bookstore, a prominent African-American bookstore specializing in political and Black Power materials and was located in Harlem. [1] [2]
Personal life
Una Mulzac was born in Baltimore, but raised in Brooklyn, New York. [3] Her father, Hugh Mulzac, was a socialist and the first black commander of a ship in the United States Merchant Marine. [1] She grew up in Bedford–Stuyvesant, where she graduated from Girls' High School. Mulzac briefly worked as a secretary for Random House. [2] [3] In 1963, Mulzac moved to British Guiana, where she joined the People's Progressive Party and ran their bookstore in the capital of Georgetown. [2] [3] She was injured in a bomb attack at the Progressive Book Store. [2] Mulzac was on the executive board of the Harlem chapter of the NAACP. [4] Her grand nephew is Sharrif Simmons, a poet and songwriter. [5]
Liberation Bookstore
A year after to returning to Harlem from British Guiana, Mulzac opened the Liberation Bookstore in 1967. [1] The Liberation Bookstore has been compared to Lewis Michaux's African National Memorial Bookstore. [1]
Further reading
- Joshua Clark Davis. From Head Shops to Whole Foods: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs. Columbia University Press, 2017, ISBN 9780231171588
- Joshua Clark Davis, "Una Mulzac, Black Woman Booksellers, and Pan-Africanism," Black Perspectives, September 19, 2016.
- Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Harlem Is Nowhere: A Journey to the Mecca of Black America, Little Brown, 2011, ISBN 978-0-316-01723-7.
Notes
- ^ a b c d Douglas Martin, "Una Mulzac, Bookseller With Passion for Black Politics, Dies at 88", New York Times, February 4, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Davis, Joshua (September 19, 2016). "Una Mulzac, Black Woman Booksellers, and Pan-Africanism". Black Perspectives.
- ^ a b c Boyd, Herb (August 5, 2015). "Activist entrepreneur Una G. Mulzac". New York Amsterdam News. ProQuest 1706375015.
- ^ The Crisis. Mar 1958. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- ^ "interview". WBHM.
External links
- Slutsky, Irina. "Barnes & Noble Says No to Harlem USA". Columbia University. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- Douglas, Laura (October–November 2000). "Save Harlem's Liberation Bookstore!". The Multiracial Activist. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- Jacob McKean, "Last Chapter Draws Near at Mainstay Harlem Bookstore", Columbia Spectator, October 31, 2003.
- "Liberation Bookstore Inventory for Purchase -- Immediate Response Appreciated". Now Rise Books. August 9, 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
- 1923 births
- 2012 deaths
- American booksellers
- American people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines descent
- American people of Jamaican descent
- Businesspeople from Baltimore
- Businesspeople from New York City
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- Girls' High School alumni
- People from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
- 20th-century American businesswomen
- 20th-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American businesspeople