Walter Rodney was a leader of Black Power and Pan-African movements across the diaspora, most notably the Guyana Working People's Alliance. He was an internationally known historian of colonialism and a leader of Black Power and Pan-African movements across the diaspora. His life and activities tied together African independence battles with the aspirations of North America's black working classes and the Caribbean basin's black working classes. Rodney was slain on June 13th, 1980, most likely by Guyana's then-president. He was 38 years old at the time.