2020 was a big year for the Black Lives Matter movement — a year of tragedy, but also a year of global recognition and momentum. In June, a number of reading lists started circulating to educate those who were new to the movement, or just interested in learning more about black civil rights. The below list is just a small part of the texts available for those interested.
Angela: Portrait of a Revolutionary
By ‘The Professor’
Angela Davis is somewhat of an iconic figure in the black civil rights movement, yet the details of her activism aren’t as widely known as some other key figures. This book, written at the time of her trial for a crime she wasn’t associated with, outlines her academic journey to activism and her efforts to share her vision and learnings with those around her, for the betterment of black lives. This provides an important historical understanding of an important figure, her ideologies and the rebellion she sparked.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
As told to Alex Haley
Malcolm X is an instantly recognisable leader of the black civil rights movement. Nearly every person with some knowledge of the fight for civil rights knows his face and some of his more iconic quotes and moments. This autobiography tells the full and detailed story of his life, how he arrived at his understanding of how to beat white supremacy and his work over time. You may have seen the Spike Lee film, which is a rare good adaptation of a book, but it’s worth reading this, too, to fill in many of the smaller facts that don’t make it to the screen.
The Fire Next Time
By James Baldwin
Where Malcolm X once called for full separation of black and white communities, James Baldwin makes a passionate call for racial injustice to end through unity between those communities. The Fire Next Time contains two letters written by Baldwin at the emergence of the 1960s civil rights movement, and outlines his understanding of how we can collectively achieve a better world. “Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands,” he says near the end of the volume — a prescient thought that is well worth reflecting on in 2020.
Sister Outsider
By Audre Lorde
Sister Outsider is a collection of essays and speeches by Audre Lorde, covering a huge range of topics from raising sons, to travel, to poetry, to sexism. Sister Outsider is a vital text for anyone with an interest in issues of feminism or race, to assist in developing an intersectional understanding of these things. It is also beautifully written, concise, and passionate — a great insight into the mind of one of black feminism’s strongest voices.
When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
By Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
This book tells the life story of Patrisse Khan-Cullors, one of the black women who founded what is now the global Black Lives Matter movement. Patrisse was motivated into action when George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin, but her memoir goes well beyond this event in detailing how she arrived at a point of dedicating her life to the movement for racial justice. This is a vital insight into modern America and the lives of black women within it.