Randy Kryn

Randall Lee Kryn (b. 1949), commonly known as Randy Kryn, is an American journalist, writer, and historian best known for his work with the Civil Rights Movement as James Bevel's biographer. Kryn has also done newspaper editing, community organizing, politics, activism, parapsychology, and Wikipedia editing.
Early life and education
Kryn was born on October 12, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a student at Oak Park and River Forest High School until he graduated in 1967. After that, he went to Morton College; there, he helped create a Polish-American history class, the first one in the country. Kryn also wrote and edited for the school newspaper Morton College Collegian; during that time, he received an open letter from Coretta Scott King (published in the paper in 1970) saying that she liked his editorial work. Kryn graduated from the college in 1970.
Parapsychology and spirituality
Since 1977, Kryn has been the president and research director of the Illinois Society for Psychic Research. He talked with Harold Sherman in a paper called Man As Soul - Entity. In July 1994, members of Heaven's Gate tried to get Kryn to join their religion in Madison, Wisconsin, but it didn't work.
Community organizing, politics, and activism
Kryn is the founder, president, and director of the Oak Park Center for Creativity. Also in the 1980s, he started doing politics in Chicago. Kryn was the chairman of the 7th Congressional Republican Council. In 1986, the Soviet consulate in New York City sent letters to Kryn to try to bring peace to the Cold War. In 1989, he ran for a position as Oak Park trustee; while doing that, he wanted marijuana to be legal, saying:
Kryn lost that election.
In 1992, Kryn represented Wisconsin to help Jerry Brown. He again wanted to make marijuana legal, this time by trying to change the law; but his change didn't work, although chairman Nancy Pelosi liked how Kryn brought energy to the meeting.
Kryn started the Madison branch of EarthSave.
On August 28, 1996, Kryn was arrested for leading a protest at the 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Historiography
As chief biographer, Kryn has undertaken extensive work in chronicling strategist James Bevel's pivotal role in leading key events and aspects of the Civil Rights Movement such as the Chicago Freedom Movement, Selma to Montgomery marches, Nashville Student Movement, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Kryn set into motion his career as a historian and biographer by conducting his first interviews with Bevel in 1983. In October 2005, Kryn published his thesis titled Randy Kryn: Movement Revision Research Summary Regarding James Bevel, which cemented Bevel's status and legacy as a top-level Civil Rights Movement leader along with King; in the aftermath, Kryn received publication responses from James Ralph and Kale Williams. Robert St. John has also affirmed Kryn's position in a letter, saying:
Kryn has collaborated with David Garrow, sometimes serving as an assistant and sounding board in that capacity. BlackPast.org uses Kryn's work as the main reference for its James Bevel biography page.
Another role that Kryn has engaged in as a historian, is that of preserving and contributing to Ray Bradbury's hometown records in Waukegan, Illinois; Kryn did this in a multi-step process by:
Going to the City Hall
Obtaining copies of the house deed and birth certificates of Bradbury's parents
Talking to the mayor
Organizing the Ray Bradbury Society
On October 28, 2000, Kryn interviewed Prathia Hall, a woman who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement; this interview would be utilized in a biography written about her by Courtney Pace, titled Freedom Faith: The Womanist Vision of Prathia Hall. Kryn also contributed a series of unpublished manuscripts from his 1998-2004 interviews with Bevel to Thomas E. Ricks' 2022 book titled Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968.
Personal life and other endeavors
Since October 2008, Kryn has resided in Columbus, Ohio. In early 2022, he made international headlines as a Wikipedia editor with his comment in a debate regarding whether non-fungible tokens (NFTs) constitute art, by stating:
Notes
References
American historians
Politicians
1949 births
Writers from Chicago