Walter Rodney was born on 23 March 1942 in Guyana (Caribbean). He attended the University College of the West Indies (UCWI) in Jamaica on scholarship also graduated in 1963 with first-class degree in History thereby winning the faculty of art prize.
He earned a PhD in African History in 1966 at Oriental and African Studies in London, England at the age of 24.
He lectures at the University of Dar es Salam in Tanzania also at the alma mater university of (UCWI)
He was also called to take up a position as a professor at the University of Guyana, but the Guyanese government prevent his appointment.
Rodney travelled widely and well known internationally as an activist, scholar, orator and Pan Africanist and was important in the Black Power movement in the Caribbean and North America. While living in Dares Salam he was influential in developing a new centre at African learning and discussion.
Due to his oratory prowess, he was banned by the government of Jamaica via the University College of West Indies
This action warrant protests by the student and which escalated into a riot resulting in six death.
Rodney wrote a record-broken book “How European underdeveloped Africa” in 1972.
This book became enormously influential as well as controversial.
On June 1980, he was killed at the age of 38 by a bomb in his car, a month after returning from celebration during independence in Zimbabwe in a time of intense political activism.
After his assassination, Rodney received several honours. In 1993, the government of Dr Cheddi Jagan posthumously gave him the country’s highest national award, the Order of Excellence, and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was established at the University of Guyana.
