Recognized as one of the Caribbean’s most brilliant minds, Rodney’s scholarly works and political activism engendered a new political consciousness. His Ph.D. thesis, A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, and his seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, illustrated his duality as an intellectual and activist as he challenged prevailing assumptions about African history and put forth his own ideas and models for analyzing the history of oppressed peoples. He provided a new construct for development theory and established a framework for analyzing current global socio-economic and political issues; thus becoming one of the first to bring a different perspective to the question of underdevelopment in Africa. Rodney’s ability to combine his scholarship with activism enabled him to become a voice for the under-represented and disenfranchised and distinguished him from his academic colleagues. His selfless commitment to the struggles for the liberation of working people in Guyana and other parts of the African Diaspora continue to be honored today.

The Walter Rodney Papers

The Walter Rodney Papers are available for viewing and research at the in the Archives and Special Collections of the Woodruff Library.

In 2003, the Walter Rodney Papers were donated by the Rodney family to the Robert W. Woodruff Library of the Atlanta University Center.   The Collection is the largest and most comprehensive collection of writings, speeches, correspondence, photographs and documents created by or about Walter Rodney anywhere in the world.

The Walter Rodney Foundation also maintains an up-to-date bibliography of all books, papers, journals and articles written by and about Walter Rodney.



To schedule an appointment, contact 404-978-2052 or archives@auctr.edu.

Click here for a pdf finding aid to the Papers.

          Bibliography

Click here to see writings by and about:

Dr. Walter Rodney

(March 23, 1942 - June 13, 1980)