Sunday, November 04, 2007

A Short Reading List On Black Resistance

After I wrote a recent post on Black resistance to White oppression, a commentator mentioned a couple of books worth reading and inspired me to create the following list of a few books I commonly recommend on the topic. The list is in no particular order and is in NO way comprehensive. In fact, I'm hoping that readers will add to the list in the comments section. But this will give those who are interested some options with which to begin.

American Negro Slave Revolts by Herbert Aptheker
Black Consciousness in South Africa by Steve Biko
Garvey and Garveyism by Amy Jacques Garvey
The Negro Revolution by Robert Goldston
Runaway Slaves by John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Black Students by Harry Edwards
We Want Freedom by Mumia Abu-Jamal
Antislavery by Dwight Lowell Dumond
Detroit: I Do Mind Dying by Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin
The Making of Black Revolutionaries by James Forman
Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas by Richard Price
Here I Stand by Paul Robeson
A Taste of Power by Elaine Brown
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Hailey
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs
Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

As I have already stated, there are many, many more such books. And I have only listed books, though there are some essays (such as "Dynamite Growing Out of Their Skulls" by Calvin C. Hernton, ") and even some letters (such as "The Letter from the Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, "Letter to a Farm Boy" by Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin's "if they take you in the morning" letter to Angela Davis in the 1970's) that are so classic on the topic that they stand alone on their own merit. And it could be argued that many of the poems, fictional stories and plays written by African-Americans since the 1700's have been couched in either recounting, defending, explaining, or inciting Black resistance in one way or the other. You will have to find out that on your own (and I hope you will, no matter what your skin tone).

In any case, I just listed here the first few that came to mind. What books on African and African-American resistance would you add?

3 comments:

  1. The Black Jacobins - CLR James. This book tells the story of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution. Excellent read.

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  2. CLR James is key.

    At random:
    Assata - Assata Shakur.

    I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem - Maryse Conde.

    No Telephone to Heaven - Michelle Cliff.

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  3. Cooool, ACT and PZ. I'll check these out.

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