Cornel West Biography
Cornel West is an American Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual, who was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Sacramento, California. He is widely known for focusing on the role of race, gender, and class in American society, and on the means by which people act and react to their “radical conditionedness”.
West also draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, which include Christianity, the Black church, Marxism, neopragmatism, and transcendentalism, as a socialist. He worked as a Professor of African American Studies at Princeton, and as a Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Cornel has been featured on CNN, C-SPAN, PBS, and MSNBC, and he also co-hosted a radio show called Smiley and West with Tavis Smiley. He has authored several books including ‘Commentary on The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, ‘Race Matters’, and ‘The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto.’
10 Quick Facts About Cornel West
- Name: Cornel West
- Age:68 years
- Birthday:2nd June
- Zodiac Sign: Gemini
- Height: Average
- Nationality: American
- Occupation: Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual
- Marital Status: Married
- Salary: Under Review
- Net worth:$500 Thousand
Cornel West Age
West is 69 years old as of 2022, he was born on June 2, 1953, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America. He celebrates his birthday on 2nd June every year and his birth sign is Gemini.
Cornel West Height
Cornel stands at an average height. He appears to be quite tall in stature if his photos, relative to his surroundings, are anything to go by. However, details regarding his actual height and other body measurements are currently not publicly available. We will update this section when the information is available.
Cornel West Education
West went to John F. Kennedy High School until he graduated from the school. He then attended Harvard College and took classes from philosophers Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. He graduated magna cum laude in Near Eastern languages and civilization in 1973.
He later enrolled Princeton University and received a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in 1980. This made him the first African American to graduate from Princeton with a Ph.D. in philosophy.
Cornel West Parents
Cornel was born to his parents Irene Rayshell (Bias) and Clifton Louis West Jr. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His father Clifton served as a general contractor for the Defense Department, while his mother Irene served as a teacher and principal. He spent his childhood with his sibling brother named Clifton West in Sacramento, California.
Cornel West Wife
West has married four times and divorced the same number of times throughout his life. He got married to his first wife Hilda Holloman, in 1977, and together they have one son, Clifton Louis. He later married a second wife in 1981. Her name was Romona Santiago but it also ended in divorce.
His third wife was Elleni Gebre Amlak, to whom he still pays alimony. He has a daughter, Dilan Zeytun who lives in Bonn, Germany. He married his fifth wife Leslie Kotkin in 2016 and divorced in 2018.
Cornel West Children
Cornel is a proud father of two. His first child is a son named Clifton Louis born in 1977 is West’s first child and only son. He is a result of West’s marriage to his first wife, Holloman. His second child is a daughter named Dilan Zeytun West born on 11th November 2000.
She was born of a “love relationship,” as he calls it, with a Kurdish journalist who was at Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship. Currently, Zeytun lives in Germany and the West supports her.
Cornel West Net Worth
West has an estimated net worth of $500 Thousand dollars as of 2022. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual. Through his various sources of income, he has been able to accumulate good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle.
Cornel West Measurements and Facts
Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Cornel West;
Cornel West Wiki
- Full Names: Cornel Ronald West
- Popular As: Cornel West
- Gender: Male
- Occupation / Profession: Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual
- Nationality: American
- Race / Ethnicity: Afro-American
- Religion: Christian
- Sexual Orientation: Straight
Cornel West Birthday
- Age / How Old?: 69 years (2022)
- Zodiac Sign: Gemini
- Date of Birth: June 2, 1953
- Place of Birth: Tulisa, Oklahoma, United States of America
- Birthday: 2nd June
Cornel West Body Measurements
- Body Measurements: Not Available
- Height / How Tall?: Average
- Weight: Moderate
- Eye Color: Black
- Hair Color: Salt & Pepper
- Shoe Size: Not Available
- Bicep Size: Not Available
- Chest Size: Not Available
- Waist Size: Not Available
- Hip Size: Not Available
Cornel West Family and Relationship
- Father (Dad): Clifton Louis West Jr.
- Mother: Irene Rayshell (Bias)
- Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Clifton West
- Marital Status: Married
- Wife / Spouse: Married to Elleni Gebre Amlak
- Children: Sons (Dilan Zeytun West) Daughter(s) (Clifton West)
Cornel West Net Worth and Salary
- Net Worth: $500 Thousand
- Salary: Under Review
- Source of Income: Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual
Cornel West Obama
West publicly supported the 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, then-Senator Barack Obama. He even addressed over 1,000 of his supporters at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on November 29, 2007.
West further withdrew his support for Obama in an April 2011 interview referring to Obama as a Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats and now because he has become head of the American killing machine he is proud of it. West said in an interview that he considered Obama a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.
West referred to Obama’s speech in 2013 at the 50th-anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a dream’ as contradictory and as pretty words that hide ugly deeds. West stated that Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream while Obama got drones while Martin Luther King Jr. had prophetic missions Barack Obama got deadly missiles that he’s ready to use.
West in 2014, gave an interview slamming Obama, referring to him as a counterfeit who posed as a progressive. He went further to define Obama’s presidency as a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency, and a national security presidency.
Cornel West Hillary Clinton
For the United States 2016 presidential election, West had shown support for Democratic contender Bernie Sanders and after Sanders exit from the presidential race, he endorsed Jill Stein, a Green Party nominee, and her running mate Ajamu Baraka. He referred to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as a “neoliberal disaster,” and accused Clinton of posing as a progressive.
Cornel West Matrix
The Matrix is a science fiction action media franchise created by The Wachowskis. It is about heroes who fight a desperate war against machine overlords that have enslaved humanity in an extremely sophisticated virtual reality system.
It was released in 1999 as the series feature film and continued with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both 2003), both written and directed by The Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver.
In the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the professor appears as Councillor West and provides the voice for this character in the video game Enter the Matrix. He also provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection, together with integral theorist Ken Wilber.
Cornel West Race Matters
Race Matters is a social sciences book by philosopher Cornel West. The book was first published on April 1, 1993, by Beacon Press. It analyzes moral authority and racial debates concerning skin color in the United States.
Cornel West Books
- 1979 – Black Theology and Marxist Thought
- 1982 – Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity
- 1985 – Post-Analytic Philosophy, edited with John Rajchman
- 1988 – Prophetic Fragments
- 1989 – The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism
- 1991 – Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life (with bell hooks)
- 1993 – Prophetic Thought in Postmodern Times: Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism
- 1994 – Race Matters
- 1995 – Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion, and Culture in America (with rabbi Michael Lerner)
- 1996 – The Future of the Race (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
- 1997 – Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America
- 1998 – The War Against Parents: What We Can Do For America’s Beleaguered Moms and Dads (with Sylvia Ann Hewlett)
- 2000 – The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)
- 2004 – Commentary on The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions; see The Ultimate Matrix Collection (with Ken Wilber)
- 2008 – Hope on a Tightrope: Words & Wisdom
- 2009 – Brother West: Living & Loving Out Loud
- 2012 – The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto (with Tavis Smiley)
- 2012 – Pro+Agonist: The Art of Opposition
2014 – Black Prophetic Fire
Cornel West Movies
- 2015 – #Bars4Justice
- 2012 – What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year? (TV show)
- 2009 – The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
- 2008 – Examined Life
- 2003 – The Matrix Revolutions
- 2003 – The Matrix Reloaded
- 2005 – Street Fight
Cornel West Quotes
Above the many quotes by Cornel West, below are some of them:
- We have to recognize that there cannot be relationships unless there is a commitment unless there is loyalty
- Unless there is love, patience, and persistence.
Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public. - You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people.
- You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people.
- I cannot be an optimist but I am a prisoner of hope.
- I have tried to be a man of letters in love with ideas in order to be a wiser and more loving person, hoping to leave the world just a little better than I found it.
- Empathy is not simply a matter of trying to imagine what others are going through but having the will to muster enough courage to do something about it. In a way, empathy is predicated upon hope.
- To be a Christian is to live dangerously, honestly, freely – to step in the name of love as if you may land on nothing, yet to keep on stepping because the something that sustains you no empire can give you and no empire can take away.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cornel West
Cornel West is an American Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual, who was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Sacramento, California. He is widely known for focusing on the role of race, gender, and class in American society, and on the means by which people act and react to their “radical conditionedness”. He also draws intellectual contributions from multiple traditions, which include Christianity, the Black church, and neopragmatism.
West is 69 years old as of 2022, he was born on June 2, 1953, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America.
Cornel stands at an average height, he has not shared his height with the public. His height will be listed once we have it from a credible source.
No, he has married four times and divorced the same number of times throughout his life. He got married to his first wife Hilda Holloman, in 1977. He later married a second wife in 1981. Her name was Romona Santiago but it also ended in divorce. His third wife was Elleni Gebre Amlak. He married his fifth wife Leslie Kotkin in 2016 and divorced in 2018.
West has an estimated net worth of $500 Thousand dollars as of 2022. This includes his assets, money, and income. His primary source of income is his career as a Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual.
Details about West’s salary are not yet disclosed. However, information about how much he makes will be updated as soon as it is available.
He is a resident of Princeton, New Jersey (NJ), USA, we shall upload pictures of his house as soon as we have them.
West is alive and in good health. There have been no reports of him being sick or having any health-related issues.
West is still an active participant in the creative entertainment industry, he is still pursuing his career as a Philosopher, Political Activist, Social Critic, and Public Intellectual.
Contacts
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