#kali nicole gross

[benedictusantonius]

[2023|017] A Black Women’s History of the United States (2020) written by Diana Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross

[52booksproject]

Book 40: A Black Woman's History of the United States

Since it was a mix of Black History Month and Women's History Month the book A Black Woman's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross seemed appropriate. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record, but the content of this book was hard to hear (Yes, I know, if hearing about it is bad try living it like millions of Black women have). Except for the first Black woman they could find a record of in the US, from a petition to get papers of protection from slavery and marriage (aka slavery back then) to join an expedition to Santa Fe, Black women were almost exclusively brought as slaves to the US. Up front [TRIGGER WARNING] sexual assault and violence are a huge part of this book, so the whole thing will be sensitive subjects until the end. Sir Frances Drake's expedition raided a Spanish ship and got a hold of a Black woman they raped, made pregnant, and then dropped off on a random island also with two Black men presumably to die, but who will ever know? Definitely one of the sickest stories in American history (that has no end of them) and paints Drake in a whole new light for me.

Then in 1619, the gaping asshole masterfully played by David Ogden Stiers in Disney's Pocahontas (I think it's the same guy) bought some slaves in Virginia and that began 250 years of Black slavery in America. The book defends the few Black women that owned slaves as just trying to escape slavery for their family, which *I* can't possibly judge these women for that. The only fun part of these chapters were the escapes. We barely know anything about these women historically except for the advertisements in escaped slave classifieds which almost always include descriptions of fine clothing they took with them to pass as free women. So the women were free and had nice clothing at least. There's also a daring raid during the Civil War where Harriet Tubman (hey mr. president, still waiting on that $20 bill, btw) took a river boat and helped a bunch of slaves escape and burned plantations along the way, so that was sweet. However, post-bellum and Jim Crow were hardly better for Black women. In fact, the book has to get to the incredible Shirley Freaking Chisholm before the stories start to take a real positive turn. In the last chapter they even mention Roxanne Shante's Roxanne's Revenge and and Lauryn Hill's the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as triumphs of Black culture, and having both I agree they are.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK: Assuming you can handle reading the horrible things that happened, then, yes. Not many books are a broad sampling of primary sources to learn about Black women in US history.

ART PROJECT:

I already drew many of the women mentioned in the book, but my favorite part was hearing about Shirley Chisholm and I inexplicably missed her when I did my faces project last year, so I drew her.

[thirddeadlysin]

***

thanks to @hondagirll for the tag!

Last song

It was definitely something by Twisted Sister because I was thinking about how much my sister likes Dee Snider but I can't look it up because it was on the radio

Currently reading

I'm between books at the moment so it's a lot of fanfic and shit I don't need to buy listicles but I'm about to start Eugene Lim's SEARCH HISTORY and Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross's A BLACK WOMEN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (and probably also Howard Zinn for a refresher)

Currently watching

I am between shows and taking a massive break from movies so if you see this you should recommend something to watch!

Current obsession

I messed something up at work last week that my brain is still trying to untangle but other than that it's just making sure the gremlins in my soul that don't want to think about anything but "Eddie Munson in s5!!!!!!!!" are well fed

Tagging @muirmarie @littlelindentree @cartoon-heart @criticallyacclaimedstranger and anyone else who wants to do this!

[slfrench]

Spring Book Review: A Black Women's History of the United States

I recently finished “A Black Women’s History of the United States” by Kalie Nicole Gross and Daina Ramey Berry. I recommend the book and found it to be very interesting. The authors did a good job of presenting information beyond commonly taught lessons about Black American history. The book spans pre colonial America to the early 2000s. It discusses the contributions, accomplishments and…

[bohemian-nights]

Hate reducing most of this to white feminism, but that's the truth of the matter. Like they already don't like certain white women characters(which makes no sense when you stan literal racists and war criminals, but okay).

However, when it comes to Black/Blackish women it becomes even worse because then you have their unconscious racial biases thrown in, biases they don't think they have and will never admit to.

Which is why most of them were cheering on Laena dying or saying that her death was okay(even though that bs was traumatizing and not book accurate). Or try to say that the girls(Rhaena and Baela)aren't being neglected.

Let's not get into Nettles cause she wrecks their idea that Rhaenyra is this woman who is the “ultimate desire.” This goes for both Rhaeicent and Daemyra stans who are two sides of the same coin to be honest. Certain characters just aren’t worth it to them🤷🏽‍♀️

All I have left remaining to say in regards to Nettles treatment (and all the Black/Blackish female characters) is this:

I want black women to have the space to be sentient beings, to be profoundly flawed, deeply troubled, and complicated. To me that is humanity, and it's important for us to be able to look at that -that we shouldn't need to be angels or have halos shining over our heads to be worthy of historical engagement.

-Kali Nicole Gross

I had to explain why a character having autonomy in their narrative and doing something wrong doesn't justify racism and classism.

While explaining that these concepts exist in Game of Thrones and A song of Ice and fire.

The white feminism is dark and full of terrors. George could explain the concept of Intersectional Feminism, like dictionary definition, as the first part of the winds of winter, and some of you still wouldn't get it.

Like genuinely questioning, for a second, if Elia Martell would like the idea that her kids are illegitimate after she almost died twice giving birth and endured Aerys racism and prejudice and bore the brunt of Rhaegar's prophecy.

If Nettles and Daemon slept together, why would you need that to be inherently predatory and blurred consenually. Why should Nettles have to be good and pure of heart in order for you to acknowledge that Rhaenyra was wrong for what she said.

Why do show Baela and Rhaena have to like Rhaenyra? Why is it okay to sidestep the fact that Daemon doesn't seem to care about them after Laena dies?

Why do so many of you in the fandom create a third daughter just between Daemon and Rhaenyra or project onto Visenya (dead baby) rather than using the characters we have that don't have a lot of personality attached to them in the show canon?

The idea that we are "supporting our favorite war criminals" falls flat with the double standards y'all apply to characters (majority women) you all don't like.

Not to mention the way you all go out of your way to oversexualise all Dornish women while claiming canon reason (stereotypes about an outsider group in Westeros). I've seen strange things on these apps

Weird, weird behaviour, and I'll quote Shiv Roy of all people because a lot of you don't understand what you're doing. You just think your perspective is right because it doesn't actively click as a strange or wrong way to operate in the world.

You all tend not to conceptualize women as autonomous beings in these stories unless they fit your narrative. It happens with Sansa, catelyn , Elia, Dany, Arianna, and Nettles, and because of the Hotd canon, all the Velaryon/ Targaryen women.

Even more of you can't seem to see how a victim can project and carry on the systems that oppress them because they are at least above someone morally for conforming to the standard rather than defying it. You can still root for them. (Alicent)

Some of you can't fit the idea that just maybe someone doesn't want to fix the system. They are entitled to be the exception to it. You can still root for them. (Rhaenyra)

Allow women to be characters, view them as characters, not concepts and projections and when it comes to woc in this universe, please understand that there are forms of prejudice that affect them that won't affect, for instance Cersi. There are ideas and concepts that are inherent to world building, and just because you don't see it often doesn't mean it isn't there, it just means we aren't interacting with the characters that experience it.

[biglisbonnews]

The Little Known History of World War II's All-Black, All-Female Battalion In 1927, an unlikely friendship arose between educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune and future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, based on a shared belief in the power of education. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933, Bethune served as an advisor on minority issues, and eventually was named Director of Negro Affairs in 1939. Her work with the administration led to the creation of the Black Cabinet, an informal group of advisors who worked on issues facing Black communities across the United States. The Black Cabinet helped the Roosevelt administration draft executive orders that ended the exclusion of Black Americans in the Army during World War II. In 1944, with the support of the First Lady, Bethune pushed for the admittance of Black women in the military, through inclusion in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), a branch of the Army created in 1942. Though there was a backlash against having women in uniform from conservative elements in military leadership, tens of thousands of women were trained in a variety of non-combat specialties that were thought appropriate for women at the time: switchboard operation, baking, mechanics, stenography, postal work, and more. All were critical to the operation of the Army during wartime. Sending and receiving mail, for example, was a lifeline for soldiers, and the only way to stay connected to the friends and families they left behind. In 1945 alone, more than 3.3 billion pieces of mail went through the military postal service. Around 8 million Americans were stationed in Europe that year. The task of organizing and delivering all that mail was daunting, and a shortage of qualified postal workers led to a massive backlog. Army officers reported that the undelivered mail was hurting morale. Something had to be done, and a unique WAC battalion answered the call. The task of sifting through this growing stack of letters and packages—some of which had been mailed years before—was given to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only all-Black, all-female battalion to serve overseas during World War II. The 6888th—nicknamed “Six Triple Eight” and led by Major Charity Adams Earley—was originally expected to sort through 7 million pieces of mail and packages in Birmingham, England, over the course of six months. They did the job in three. During World War II, more than a million Black American men and women served in all branches of the U.S. armed forces. For many, it was a way to prove their belonging in a country that had mistreated and excluded them for so long. Segregation laws were still being strongly enforced. “A lot of Black Americans were also thinking about what it means to be drafted into segregated military branches,” says Matthew Delmont, a historian at Dartmouth College and author of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad. In a famous letter sent to the Pittsburgh Courier in January 1942, 26-year-old James G. Thompson asked, “Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?” For some Black men and women of the armed forces, fighting for freedom abroad became a stepping stone to fighting for freedom at home. In 1943, when the WAC began admitting Black women, the War Department said that it would continue to follow Army policy and maintain a 10 percent quota of Black women admitted. In their book A Black Women’s History of the United States, Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross estimate that 4,000 Black women signed up, even with the knowledge that they would be segregated. The WAC had successfully fought for women to be classified under the same rank as soldiers, and the branch shed its “auxiliary” status after a year in existence. However, while white women were getting medical training, Black women were relegated to only training in administrative work and cooking. According to Berry and Gross, Black women soldiers were ordered to ���scrub and wash floors, wash dishes, and do all the dirty work.” When white WAC groups started getting deployed to serve in Europe, civil rights organizations, with the continued push from Mary McLeod Bethune, advocated for greater representation of Black women overseas. The War Department obliged. Major Charity Adams Earley was the first Black woman to become an officer, appointed in July 1942. The Army, like civilian life at the time, was still segregated, and Major Adams worked in a unit with other Black women at the Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School in Iowa. In January 1945, the 26-year-old flew on a C-54 cargo plane to England, her mission a “secret” one that she would only be told about when she landed. Upon arrival, Major Adams was appointed commander of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion and told to prepare to welcome the 855 Black American women who would be tasked with organizing the undelivered mail sitting in warehouses in Birmingham. The women of the battalion were also not told about their task until they arrived. After months of training in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, the women of the 6888th sailed to Glasgow, Scotland, on February 3, 1945. The journey on SS Île de France was fraught. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was confronted by German U-boats, which forced the French ocean liner to change its course several times. In her book, One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC, Major Adams, while waiting to welcome her battalion in Glasgow, says, “the sight of two officers whom they [the women of the 6888th] knew, standing at dockside waiting to greet them, was like a breath of fresh air. Thanks to seasickness, the salt-water spray, and the limited personal conveniences, the group was a very unhappy looking lot.”Once the 6888th reached Birmingham by train, the women found themselves dwarfed by massive piles of mail in the facilities, which included six airplane hangars. On paper, the task, though huge, seemed simple enough—organize the packages and letters to be delivered to the right people—but there were complications. In poorly lit and unheated buildings, they had to sort through mail that sometimes only contained first names, nicknames, and common names like “Robert Smith.” They worked in shifts and processed an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per day until the job was finished, ahead of schedule. The next deployment was to Rouen, France, where they also finished clearing out a backlog of two to three years mail, with the help of French civilians and German prisoners of war.When the war ended in September 1945, the 6888th was sent to work in Paris. But there were fewer women, and morale suffered under an influx of mail for the holidays. They faced another challenge—the theft of small packages, and they had to work with civilians to track them down. By February 1946, the remaining women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion returned to the United States and the unit was disbanded at Fort Dix, New Jersey. By the end of their mission, the battalion had sorted through 17 million pieces of mail. Even though Major Adams was promoted to lieutenant colonel upon her return, the 6888th was given no public recognition or welcome ceremony. The women of the 6888th report that they felt as though they were treated better abroad than they were at home. The experience of returning home was incredibly demoralizing for many of the Black men and women who spent years risking their lives abroad. “Most white Americans, when the military part of the war ended, wanted to go back to the way things used to be,” Delmont says. “It was the exact opposite of what Black Americans wanted when they returned home.” While white veterans were commemorated and welcomed with celebration, Black veterans and service workers, including the women of the 6888th, felt as though they had been cast aside. “They got home and people acted like they hadn’t done anything, like they hadn’t also sacrificed to win the war,” says Delmont. Members of the battalion received the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Women’s Army Corps Service Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal, but wider recognition for their accomplishments didn’t come for another 60 years. In 2009, three former members of the unit, Alyce Dixon, Mary Ragland, and Gladys Shuster Carter, attended a commendation ceremony at the Military Women’s Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. On November 30, 2018, a monument dedicated to the 6888th was built at the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, consisting of a 25-inch bronze bust of commanding officer Major Adams. The back panel has the names of the 800-plus women who were assigned to the unit, by state of origin. On March 14, 2022, President Joe Biden signed a bill awarding the battalion the Congressional Gold Medal. The legacy of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion goes beyond their incredible work during World War II. The women and their story have been included in exhibits, books, documentaries, and even a forthcoming Netflix film directed by Tyler Perry, called Six Triple Eight and starring Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey. Even as Jim Crow laws persisted at home, the 6888th provided an intimate and necessary connection between soldiers on the front line and their families on the home front. They left their mark in hearts and minds. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/all-black-women-battalion-wwii-6888th

[rockislandadultreads]

Black History Month: Nonfiction

The 1619 Project edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty enslaved people from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.

The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

All That She Carried by Tiya Miles

In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose faced a crisis, the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag with a few precious items as a token of love and to try to ensure Ashley's survival. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold.

Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the bag in spare yet haunting language - including Rose's wish that "It be filled with my Love always." Ruth's sewn words, the reason we remember Ashley's sack today, evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations. Now, in this illuminating, deeply moving book inspired by Rose's gift to Ashley, historian Tiya Miles carefully unearths these women's faint presence in archival records to follow the paths of their lives - and the lives of so many women like them - to write a singular and revelatory history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward, in the United States.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men - bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son - and readers - the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross

In centering Black women’s stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today.

A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.

[universitybookstore]

New from Beacon Press, A Black Women’s History of the United States, by Daina Ramey and Kali Nicole Gross. The book  reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation. (Listen to an interview here.)

[curlyhairedbibliophile]

TBR Tuesday | A Black Women’s History of the United States

Synopsis | In centering Black women’s stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women’s unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross offer an examination and celebration of Black womanhood, beginning with the first African women who arrived in what became the United States to African American women of today. A Black Women’s History of the United States reaches far beyond a single narrative to showcase Black women’s lives in all their fraught complexities. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women’s history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation.

[bookcoversaroundtheworld]

A Black Women's History of the United States - US

[a-captions-blog]

[ID: GIFset of Kali Nicole Gross, a Black woman with her hair up in a bun, saying:

I want black women to have the space to be sentient beings,

to be profoundly flawed, deeply troubled, and complicated.

To me that is humanity, and it’s important

for us to be able to look at that –

that we shouldn’t need to be angels or have halos

shining over our heads to be worthy of historical engagement

\End ID]

Kali Nicole Gross, author of Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso, explains why learning about Hannah Mary Tabbs is important. You can find out more about Hannah Mary Tabbs by watching the full video.

GIFs by Sara Levine for Oxford University Press.

[snailg0th]

here’s my giant leftist to-read list for the next few years!!!

if a little (done!) it written next to the book, it means i’ve finished it! i’m gonna try to update this as i read but no promises on remembering haha

Economics/Politics

Property by Karl Marx

Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (done!)

Wages, Price, and Profit by Karl Marx (done!)

Wage-Labor and Capital by Karl Marx (done!)

Capital Volume I by Karl Marx

The 1844 Manuscripts by Karl Marx

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Fredrich Engles

Synopsis of Capital by Fredrich Engels

The Principles of Communism by Fredrich Engles

Imperialism, The Highest Stage Of Capitalism by Vladmir Lenin

The State And Revolution by Vladmir Lenin

The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky

Fascism: What is it and How to Fight it by Leon Trotsky

In Defense Of Marxism by Leon Trotsky

The Accumulation of Capital by Rosa Luxemborg

Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg

Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

On Anarchism by Noam Chomsky

Profit over People by Noam Chomsky

An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory by Ernest Mandel

The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith

The Postmodern Condition by Jean François Lyotard

Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher

The Socialist Reconstruction of Society by Daniel De Leon

Anarchism and Other Essays by Emma Goldman

Socialism Made Easy by James Connolly

Race

Biased: Uncover in the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do

Blindspot by Mahzarin R. Banaji

Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism And The Persistence Of Racial Inequality In America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

How To Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy And The Racial Divide by Crystal M. Flemming

This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How To Wake Up, Take Action, And Do The Work by Tiffany Jewell & Aurelia Durand

The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For The Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo & Priya Vulchi

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race by Jesymn Ward

Class, Race, and Marxism by David R. Roediger

America for Americans: A History Of Xenophobia In The United States by Erica Lee

The Politics Of The Veil by Joan Wallach Scott

A Different Mirror A History Of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki

A People’s History Of The United States by Howard Zinn

Black Theory

The Wretched Of The World by Frantz Fanon

Black Marxism by Cedric J Robinson

Malcolm X Speaks by Malcolm X

Women, Culture, and Politics by Angela Davis

Women, Race, & Class by Angela Davis (done!)

Freedom is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis (done!)

The Meaning of Freedom by Angela Davis

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Ain’t I A Woman? by Bell Hooks

Yearning by Bell Hooks

Dora Santana’s Works

An End To The Neglect Of The Problems Of The Negro Women by Claudia Jones

I Am Your Sister by Audre Lorde

Women’s Liberation And The African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara

W.E.B. DuBois Essay Collection

Black Reconstruction by W.E.B. DuBois

Lynch Law by Ida B. Wells

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Sula by Toni Morrison

Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Paradise by Toni Morrison

A Mercy by Toni Morrison

This Bridge Called My Back by Cherríe Moraga

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Black Skins, White Masks and The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Killing of the Black Body

Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P Newton

Settlers; The myth of the White Proletariat

Fearing The Black Body; The Racial Origins of Fatphobia

Freedom Dreams; The Black Radical Imagination

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

An Argument For Black Women’s Liberation As a Revolutionary Force by Mary Anne Weathers

Voices of Feminism Oral History Project by Frances Beal

Ghosts In The Schoolyard: Racism And School Closings On Chicago’s South Side by Eve L. Ewing

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America by Michael Eric Dyson

Why We Can’t Wait by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, Big Business, Re-create Race In The 21st Century by Dorothy Roberts

We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race & Resegregation by Jeff Chang

They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era In America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery

The Common Wind by Julius S. Scott

Black Is The Body: Stories From My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, And Mine by Emily Bernard

We Were Eight Years In Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

American Lynching by Ashraf H. A. Rushdy

Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold

Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affects Us and What We Can Do

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life Of Black Communist Claudia Jones by Carole Boyce Davies

Black Studies Manifesto by Darlene Clark

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Souls Of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

Darkwater by W.E.B. Du Bois

The Education Of Blacks In The South, 1860-1935 by James D. Anderson

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery And The Making Of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist

The Color Of Money: Black Banks And The Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradaran

A Black Women’s History Of The United States by Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross

The Price For Their Pound Of Flesh: The Value Of The Enslaved, From Womb to Grave, In The Building Of A Nation by Daina Ramey Berry

North Of Slavery: The Negro In The Free States, 1780-1869 by Leon F. Litwack

Black Stats: African Americans By The Numbers In The Twenty-First Century by Monique M. Morris

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique M. Morris

40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, And Redemption of The Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden

From #BlackLivesMatter To Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

A More Beautiful And Terrible History: The Uses And Misuses Of Civil Rights History by Jeanne Theoharis

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History Of Medical Experimentation On Black Americans From Colonial Times To The Present by Harriet A. Washington

Working At The Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework” by Moya Bailey

Theory by Dionne Brand

Black Women, Writing, And Identity by Carole Boyce Davies

Slavery By Another Name: The Re-enslavement Of Black Americans From The Civil War To World War II by Douglass A. Blackmon

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now by Andre Perry

The Origins Of The Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality In Postwar Detroit by Thomas Surgue

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

Beyond Containment: Autobiographical Reflections, Essays and Poems by Claudia Jones

The Black Woman: An Anthology by Toni McCade

Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female by Frances Beal

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Indigenous Theory

Colonize This! by Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman

As We Have Always Done

Braiding Sweetgrass

Spaces Between Us

The Sacred Hoop by Paula Gunn Allen

Native: Identity, Belonging, And Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice

An Indigenous People’s History Of The United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Why Indigenous Literatures Matter by Daniel Heath Justice

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, And The Pursuit Of Justice For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls by Jessica McDiarmid

The Other Slavery by Andrés Reséndez

Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga

All Our Relations: Indigenous Trauma In The Shadow Of Colonialism by Tanya Talaga

All Our Relations: Finding The Path Forward by Tanya Talaga

Everything You Wanted To Know About Indians But Were Afraid To Ask by Anton Treuer

Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life by David Treuer

Latine Theory

Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of Pillage of A Continent by Eduardo Galeano

Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gomez

De Colores Means All Of Us by Elizabeth Martinez

Middle Eastern And Muslim Theory

How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young And Arab In America by Moustafa Bayoumi

We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future by Deepa Iyer

Alligator and Other Stories by Dima Alzayat

API Theory

Orientalism by Edward Said

The Making Of Asian America by Erika Lee

On Gold Mountain by Lisa See

Strangers From A Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans by Ronald Takaki

They Called Us Enemy (Graphic Novel) by George Takei

Yellow Peril!: An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear by Edited by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats

Yellow: Race In America Beyond Black And White by Frank H. Wu

Alien Nation: Chinese Migration In The Americas From The Coolie Era Through World War II by Elliott Young

The Good Immigrants: How The Yellow Peril Became The Model Minorities by Madeline H. Ysu

Asian American Dreams: The Emergence Of An American People by Helen Zia

The Myth Of The Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism by Rosalind S. Chou & Joe R. Feagin

Two Faces Of Exclusion: The Untold Story Of Anti-Asian Racism In The United States by Lon Kurashige

Whiteness

White Fragility by Robin Di Angelo (done!)

White Kids: Growing Up With Privilege In A Racially Divided America by Margaret A. Hagerman

Waking Up White by Deby Irving

The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter

White Like Me: Reflections On Race From A Privileged Son by Tim Wise

White Rage by Carol Anderson

What Does It Mean To Be White: Developing White Racial Literacy by Robin DiAngelo

The Invention of The White Race: Volume 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control by Theodore W. Allen

The Invention of The White Race: Volume 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America by Theodore W. Allen

Immigration

Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftir

Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist At Work by Edwidge Danticat

My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero

The Devil’s Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay In Forty Questions by Valeria Luiselli

Voter Suppression

One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson

Give Us The Vote: The Modern Struggle For Voting Rights In America by Ari Berman

Prison Abolition And Police Violence

Abolition Democracy by Angela Davis

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

The Prison Industrial Complex by Angela Davis

Political Prisoners, Prisons, And Black Liberation by Angela Davis

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (done!)

The End Of Policing by Alex S Vitale

Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie

Choke Hold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler

From The War On Poverty To The War On Crime: The Making Of Mass Incarceration In America by Elizabeth Hinton

Feminist Theory

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay

7 Feminist And Gender Theories

Race, Gender, And Class by Margaret L. Anderson

African Gender Studies by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí

The Invention Of Women by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí

What Gender Is Motherhood? by Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí

Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity by Chandra Talpade Mohanty

I Am Malala by Malala Youssef

LGBT Theory

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

Performative Acts and Gender Constitution by Judith Butler

Imitation and Gender Insubordination by Judith Butler

Bodies That Matter by Judith Butler

Excitable Speech by Judith Butler

Undoing Gender by Judith Butler

The Roots Of Lesbian And Gay Opression: A Marxist View by Bob McCubbin

Compulsory Heterosexuality And Lesbian Existence by Adrienne Rich

Decolonizing Trans/Gender 101 by B. Binohan

Gay.Inc: The Nonprofitization of Queer Politics by Merl Beam

Pronouns Good or Bad: Attitudes and Relationships with Gendered Pronouns

Transgender Warriors

Whipping Girl; A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity

Stone Butch Blues by Lesie Feinberg (done!)

The Stonewall Reader by Edmund White

Sissy by Jacob Tobia

Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein

Butch Queens Up In Pumps by Marlon M. Bailey

Black On Both Sides: A Racial History Of Trans Identities by C Riley Snorton

Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin

Ezili’s Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley

Lavender and Red by Emily K. Hobson

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The national celebration of African American History was started by Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained historian and the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and first celebrated as a weeklong event in February of 1926. After a half century of overwhelming popularity, the event was expanded to a full month in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.

Here at UCF Libraries we believe that knowledge empowers everyone in our community and that recognizing past inequities is the only way to prevent their continuation. This is why our February Featured Bookshelf suggestions range from celebrating outstanding African Americans to works illuminating the effects of systemic racism in our country. We are proud to present our top staff suggested books in honor of Black History Month 2021.

Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the Black History Month titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These books plus many, many more are also on display on the main floor of the John C. Hitt Library near the Research & Information Desk.

 A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross In centering Black women's stories, two award-winning historians seek both to empower African American women and to show their allies that Black women's unique ability to make their own communities while combatting centuries of oppression is an essential component in our continued resistance to systemic racism and sexism. Berry and Gross prioritize many voices: enslaved women, freedwomen, religious leaders, artists, queer women, activists, and women who lived outside the law. The result is a starting point for exploring Black women's history and a testament to the beauty, richness, rhythm, tragedy, heartbreak, rage, and enduring love that abounds in the spirit of Black women in communities throughout the nation. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

 A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing: the incarceration of African American women from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland by DaMaris B. Hill For black American women, the experience of being bound has taken many forms: from the bondage of slavery to the Reconstruction-era criminalization of women; from the brutal constraints of Jim Crow to our own era's prison industrial complex, where between 1980 and 2014, the number of incarcerated women increased by 700%. For those women who lived and died resisting the dehumanization of confinement--physical, social, intellectual--the threat of being bound was real, constant, and lethal. From Harriet Tubman to Assata Shakur, Ida B. Wells to Sandra Bland and Black Lives Matter, black women freedom fighters have braved violence, scorn, despair, and isolation in order to lodge their protests. DaMaris Hill honors their experiences with at times harrowing, at times hopeful responses to her heroes, illustrated with black-and-white photographs throughout. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 Be Free or Die: the amazing story of Robert Smalls' escape from slavery to Union hero by Cate Lineberry Cate Lineberry's compelling narrative illuminates Robert Smalls’ amazing journey from slave to Union hero and ultimately United States Congressman. This captivating tale of a valuable figure in American history gives fascinating insight into the country's first efforts to help newly freed slaves while also illustrating the many struggles and achievements of African Americans during the Civil War. Suggested by Dawn Tripp, Research & Information Services

 Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans Fearless, funny, and ultimately tender, Evans's stories offer a bold new perspective on the experience of being young and African-American or mixed-race in modern-day America. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

 Black Fatigue: how racism erodes the mind, body, and spirit by Mary-Frances Winters This is the first book to define and explore Black fatigue, the intergenerational impact of systemic racism on the physical and psychological health of Black people--and explain why and how society needs to collectively do more to combat its pernicious effects. Suggested by Glen Samuels, Circulation

 Deacon King Kong by James McBride From James McBride comes a wise and witty novel about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting. In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .45 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range. McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself. As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters--caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York--overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

 Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the unfinished Black tennis revolution by Cecil Harris Harris chronicles the rise of the Williams sisters, as well as other champions of color, closely examining how African Americans are collectively faring in tennis, on the court and off. Despite the success of the Williams sisters and the election of former pro player Katrina Adams as the U.S. Tennis Association’s first black president, top black players still receive racist messages via social media and sometimes in public. The reality is that while significant progress has been made in the sport, much work remains before anything resembling equality is achieved. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the power of hope by Jon Meacham John Lewis, who at age twenty-five marched in Selma and was beaten on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, is a visionary and a man of faith. Using intimate interviews with Lewis and his family and deep research into the history of the civil rights movement, Meacham writes of how the activist and leader was inspired by the Bible, his mother's unbreakable spirit, his sharecropper father's tireless ambition, and his teachers in nonviolence, Reverend James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr. A believer in hope above all else, Lewis learned from a young age that nonviolence was not only a tactic but a philosophy, a biblical imperative, and a transforming reality. Integral to Lewis's commitment to bettering the nation was his faith in humanity and in God, and an unshakable belief in the power of hope. Meacham calls Lewis as important to the founding of a modern and multiethnic twentieth- and twenty-first century America as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and Samuel Adams were to the initial creation of the nation-state in the eighteenth century. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston An outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s “lost” Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

 Race, Sports, and Education: improving opportunities and outcomes for black male college athletes by John N. Singer Through his analysis of the system and his attention to student views and experiences, Singer crafts a valuable, nuanced account and points in the direction of reforms that would significantly improve the educational opportunities and experiences of these athletes. At a time when collegiate sports have attained unmistakable institutional value and generated unprecedented financial returns-all while largely failing the educational needs of its athletes-this book offers a clear, detailed vision of the current situation and suggestions for a more equitable way forward. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 Real Life by Brandon Taylor A novel of rare emotional power that excavates the social intricacies of a late-summer weekend -- and a lifetime of buried pain. Almost everything about Wallace, an introverted African-American transplant from Alabama, is at odds with the lakeside Midwestern university town where he is working toward a biochem degree. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends -- some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with a young straight man, conspire to fracture his defenses, while revealing hidden currents of resentment and desire that threaten the equilibrium of their community. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

 Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. Suggested by Emily Horne, Rosen Library

 The Privileged Poor: how elite colleges are failing disadvantaged students by Abraham Jack College presidents and deans of admission have opened their doors--and their coffers--to support a more diverse student body. But is it enough just to let them in? Anthony Jack reveals that the struggles of less privileged students continue long after they've arrived on campus. In their first weeks they quickly learn that admission does not mean acceptance. In this bracing and necessary book, Jack documents how university policies and cultures can exacerbate preexisting inequalities, and reveals why these policies hit some students harder than others. Jack provides concrete advice to help schools reduce these hidden disadvantages--advice we cannot afford to ignore. Suggested by Peggy Nuhn, UCF Connect Libraries

 The Sun Does Shine: how I found life and freedom on death row by Anthony Ray Hinton, with Lara Love Hardin In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only twenty-nine years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with no money and a different system of justice for a poor black man in the South, Hinton was sentenced to death by electrocution. He spent his first three years on Death Row at Holman State Prison in agonizing silence, full of despair and anger toward all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon, transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates, fifty-four of whom were executed mere feet from his cell. With the help of civil rights attorney and author Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015. Suggested by Lily Dubach, UCF Connect Libraries

 This is Major: notes on Diana Ross, dark girls, and being dope by Shayla Lawson Shayla Lawson is major. You don't know who she is, yet, but that's okay. She is on a mission to move black girls like herself from best supporting actress to a starring roles in the major narrative. With a unique mix of personal stories, pop culture observations, and insights into politics and history, Lawson sheds light on the many ways black femininity has influenced mainstream culture. Timely, enlightening, and wickedly sharp, Lawson shows how major black women and girls really are. Suggested by Glen Samuels, Circulation

 We Want Our Bodies Back by Jessica Care Moore Over the past two decades, Jessica Care Moore has become a cultural force as a poet, performer, publisher, activist, and critic. Reflecting her transcendent electric voice, this searing poetry collection is filled with moving, original stanzas that speak to both Black women’s creative and intellectual power, and express the pain, sadness, and anger of those who suffer constant scrutiny because of their gender and race. Fierce and passionate, she argues that Black women spend their lives building a physical and emotional shelter to protect themselves from misogyny, criminalization, hatred, stereotypes, sexual assault, objectification, patriarchy, and death threats. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

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HELP REEDSY DONATE TO BLM & OTHER ORGS!

Reedsy, the short story writing competition, is changing this week’s contest from a $50 prize to the winning author to $200 donations in the name of FIVE winners. If you in any way are able to write a short story to submit based on their prompts, please do so.

Here is the link to their posting, though I will discuss the details here, so please read on.

Their email on the topic further included these details on which organizations in particular they will donate to (winners’ choices):

Black Lives Matter is a global foundation with a mission to eradicate white supremacy and enable local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities around the world.

Color of Change is a nonprofit civil rights advocacy organization working to end racial injustice manifested in a number of different arenas — politics, the economy, media, and tech.

Hurston/Wright Foundation is an arts nonprofit devoted to supporting emerging and mid-career Black writers.

We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization advocating for literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.

They also cited the books Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge and A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross as books they’ve been reading; both (and more) are available at Elizabeth’s Bookshop & Writing Centre, which is donating proceeds to The Loveland Foundation. 

This week’s prompts do not have to be political if you are not comfortable with or ready to speak on that; they can be entirely escapist. Please contribute a story if you can; the word count is between 1,000 and 3,000 words. That’s at most a day’s work; the contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on June 12th.

Prompts:

Write a story about solidarity.

Write a story about activism.

Write a story about community.

Write a story about inaction.

Write a story about change.

If you cannot write for the contest, PLEASE BOOST THIS! This is an opportunity for writers to help make a change this week.