Resources For Activism and Allyship
by The Rival American Editorial Board
Resources for protesters
(Please verify these if you are unsure. Many people have different opinions on what is best.)
Black queer organizations
Reading List
Below is a reading list of books both by Black authors and on the Black experience in the United States. While this is far from an endpoint in an individual's understanding of race in the United States, it is imperative to stay informed and knowledgeable about the realities of the Black identity in this country.
Many of these books are available for free online, but if your means permit we encourage you to purchase copies through one of the many Black owned bookstores in the United States.
How to Be Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
Stamped From The Beginning by Ibram X Kendi
Kendi is a Professor and Founding Director of the Antiracist and Research Policy Center at American University. Both books illustrate the importance of antiracist movements and provide the historical context of anti-Black ideas in the United States.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Michelle Alexander is an activist and lawyer. Her book, The New Jim Crow is essential reading to understand modern policing and the modern prison industrial complex
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Davis
A professor and activist, Angela Davis’ work on the end of prisons is foundational for the modern prison abolition movement. Her more recent work Freedom is a Constant Struggle frames the Ferguson uprising next to a number of liberation movements around the world.
Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur
Shakur was arrested in 1973 for the death of a New Jersey State Trooper, Shakur is now a political refugee. Her autobiography tells the story of her own experience with race and racism in the United States as well as her involvement in the Black Panther Party.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
A professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s book connects the modern Black Lives Matter movement to its historical roots in the United States and the history of Black identities.
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Arguably the most important American novel ever written, Beloved tells the story of slaves during the American Civil War. The book won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and grapples with ideas of generational pain, family, and the psychological effects of slavery.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
A short but influential book, The Fire Next Time, contains two essays by Baldwin, “My Dungeon Shook: Letter to my Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation” and “Down At The Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind.” Each illustrates the constant struggle of liberation in the United States, and both highlight Bladwin’s views on white America, and his own sexuality.
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
A Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College, Vitale is an essential theorist on the abolition of police, and the end of the modern police state. His book The End of Policing covers all these topics, and the theoretical and practical arguments for a complete change in policing.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
While one of the most important poets in American history, Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings tells her life story, and frames her groundbreaking work alongside her own relationship with her Black identity.
Freedom Dreams by Robin Kelley
The story of Black creatives in the African diasporic community, Freedom Dreams contextualizes art and representation of the Black community within the United States. Robin Kelley is a historian and academic, and currently a professor of History at UCLA University.
Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois
A prolific writer and activist, Du Bois received a Doctorate from Harvard University and redefined the American understanding of Race and society. The vast majority of his work is near essential reading in the study of racism and race, and Black Reconstruction captures the role of Black Americans directly after the CIvil War, and the foundations of modern racism.
Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson by George Jackson
A collection of letters from his jail cell, Soledad Brother is a combination of political thought and autobiography. George Jackson was eventually killed while in prison but his writings directed towards Black America remain vitally important.
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylo
A modern understanding of Black feminism, How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective tells the story of black feminist movements, specifically the Combahee River Collective. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylo touches on the failures of both white Feminist movements, and the civil rights movements to capture the experiences of specifically Queer Black Women.