Reading for Change is a free virtual monthly book club. Our book selections are pulled from Stowe Prize shortlist and winners; works which engage with social justice, tell honest histories, and model how we can all be part of change for good.
Join Kellie Carter Jackson and Kamora Herrington in a community conversation about We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance
- Free and open to the public
- Zoom! Invite your friends across the country!
- 6:00 – 7:15 PM EST
- Riverbend Bookshop: Get a 10% discount our Stowe Prize books! Mention us at check-out or use STOWEFORCHANGE for online purchases.
A radical reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy
Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.” In We Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women.
The dismissal of “Black violence” as an illegitimate form of resistance is itself a manifestation of white supremacy, a distraction from the insidious, unrelenting violence of structural racism. Force—from work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolt—has played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people since the days of the American and Haitian Revolutions. But violence is only one tool among many. Carter Jackson examines other, no less vital tactics that have shaped the Black struggle, from the restorative power of finding joy in the face of suffering to the quiet strength of simply walking away.
Clear-eyed, impassioned, and ultimately hopeful, We Refuse offers a fundamental corrective to the historical record, a love letter to Black resilience, and a path toward liberation.
Facilitators
Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise ‘68 Associate Professor of Africana Studies and the Chair of the Africana Studies Department Wellesley College. She is the author award winning We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance (Seal Press). We Refuse won the Darlene Clark Hine Award for the Best Book on African American Women’s History given by the Organization of American Historians. It was also listed as Ms. Magazine’s Favorite Books of the Year, the Smithsonian’s Best History Books of the Year, a New York Times Editor’s Book Choice, Essence’s Top 15 Book Picks for Summer, and received starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly, among other accolades.
Kamora Le’Ella Herrington is a mother first, in all of the ways that a mother is. She is the founder and visionary of Kamora’s Cultural Corner and is an active Cultural Humility presenter and educator who began her formal career as a teacher for the City of Hartford’s Early Learning Centers.
