Turner was born in 1940 in
Brooklyn, in a family of eight children. His father was working class, and Turner attended the
High School of Fashion Industries. He grew up in
Manhattan. Before he entered college, he worked in the
garment industry and as a social worker. From 1963 to 1966 he attended
Central Michigan University, earning a sociology degree and also studying political economy. At Cornell, Turner wrote papers about his view of how Black Studies should be approached, a concept he termed "Africana", which the
Encyclopedia of African-American Politics defined as "an interdisciplinary Pan African approach to blackness focusing on the US, the Caribbean and Africa." He also studied Black nationalism and politics in the US and Africa. Turner died on August 6, 2022. == Personal life ==