Civil Rights & Jim Crow

The Civil Rights & Jim Crow Collection features selections focused on the fight for civil rights and racial equality in the United States. The voices represented in this Collection highlight the historical struggles of racial discrimination and segregation in the 20th century and ongoing movements to continue dismantling systems of oppression.

America on Fire

by Elizabeth Hinton

Publication year 2021

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice, Politics & Government, Community

Tags US History, Politics & Government, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Sociology, World History

... Read America on Fire Summary

Angela Davis

by Angela Y. Davis

Publication year 1974

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Community, Equality

Tags Gender & Feminism, Social Justice, Race & Racism, Politics & Government, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South

Angela Davis: An Autobiography, originally published in 1974, is a political autobiography focused on the imprisonment and trial of activist and scholar Angela Davis in the early 1970s. In 1970, after guns belonging to Davis were used in an uprising at the Marin County Courthouse in California, Davis was accused and convicted of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder. A jury acquitted Davis of all charges in 1972. She published her autobiography two years later to center... Read Angela Davis Summary

Arc of Justice

by Kevin Boyle

Publication year 2004

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags US History, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Crime & Law, Jazz Age, Race & Racism, World History, Biography, Social Justice, Politics & Government

Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice depicts the racial turmoil in Detroit in 1925 through the story of Dr. Ossian Sweet, an African-American physician who faces murder charges after trying to defend his home in an all-white neighborhood from mob violence. The grandson of a slave, Ossian moves northward during the Great Migration to get his education at Wilberforce and Howard Universities. After graduating Howard's medical school, Ossian sets up practice and residence in Black Bottom... Read Arc of Justice Summary

Barracoon

by Zora Neale Hurston

Publication year 2018

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, Power & Greed, Family, Perseverance, Memory, Language, Race, Community

Tags Historical Fiction, Harlem Renaissance, US History, Race & Racism, African American Literature, Anthropology, Black Lives Matter, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Grief & Death, History: African , Social Justice, Trauma & Abuse, World History, Biography

Originally written in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” (2018) is the transcribed posthumous autobiography of the life of Oluale “Cudjo Lewis” Kossola (1841-1935), written by Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). Known for her involvement in the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was a writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and filmmaker. In all her work, she held a special appreciation for Black life and Black culture of the US South. Her works... Read Barracoon Summary

Big Boy Leaves Home

by Richard Wright

Publication year 1936

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Community, Race, Justice

Tags African American Literature, Race & Racism, Trauma & Abuse, Coming of Age, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South

The short story “Big Boy Leaves Home” (1936) is the first published work of Richard Wright (1908-1960), a celebrated African American author who is best known for his 1940 protest novel Native Son. Most of Wright’s poetry, fiction, and nonfiction deal with the experiences of working-class Black people (especially men) in the United States. His protagonists, like “Big Boy,” struggle against overt racism and racist violence in their communities, ultimately facing crises that force them... Read Big Boy Leaves Home Summary

Black Boy

by Richard Wright

Publication year 1945

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Justice

Tags Race & Racism, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Education, Education, World History, Classic Fiction, Biography

Black Boy (American Hunger): A Record of Childhood and Youth is American writer Richard Wright’s classic memoir about coming of age as a Black man in the Jim Crow South and his migration to Chicago. Harper published Part 1 in 1945 as Black Boy and Part 2, which focuses on Wright’s experiences in the Communist Party in Chicago, in 1977 as American Hunger; Library of America published the combined memoir in 1991. The 1945 edition... Read Black Boy Summary

Blood Done Sign My Name

by Timothy B. Tyson

Publication year 2004

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Race & Racism, US History, Crime & Law, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, World History, Biography

Blood Done Sign My Name (2004), by Timothy B. Tyson, is a nonfiction work of history centered on the racially motivated 1970 murder of Henry Marrow Jr. in Oxford, North Carolina. The killing occurred after Marrow, a 23-year-old Black Army veteran, husband, and father of two, allegedly made a flirtatious remark in the direction of a 19-year-old married white woman. The woman’s husband, brother-in-law, and father-in-law chased Marrow down the street, shot him from behind... Read Blood Done Sign My Name Summary

Claudette Colvin

by Phillip Hoose

Publication year 2009

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Race, Safety & Danger, Justice, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags US History, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Children`s Literature, World History, Biography

... Read Claudette Colvin Summary

Clean Getaway

by Nic Stone

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Conflict, Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Hate & Anger, Fear, Grief, Guilt, Love, Shame & Pride, Race, Aging, Death, Grandparents, Childhood & Youth, The Past, Fathers, Equality, Politics & Government, Justice, Safety & Danger

Tags African American Literature, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, Action & Adventure, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, US History, Black Lives Matter, Grief & Death, Modern Classic Fiction

... Read Clean Getaway Summary

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement

by Barbara Ransby

Publication year 2003

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Race & Racism, US History, Gender & Feminism, World History, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement was written by Barbara Ransby and published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2003. The book is a biography of Ella Baker, the mother of the civil rights movement, whose work ushered in a new pro-democracy era that saw the importance of fighting for one’s civil rights as important to the survival of the democratic project. Ransby follows the winding tale of Baker’s life, chronicling her... Read Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement Summary

From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Publication year 2016

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Perseverance, Hope, Hate & Anger, Race, Social Class, Colonialism, Politics & Government, Community, Economics, Education, Nation, Equality, Justice, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt

Tags Black Lives Matter, Race & Racism, Social Justice, Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, US History, Business & Economics, Diversity, Social Class, Education, Finance, Poverty, Politics & Government, Trauma & Abuse, Sociology, World History

... Read From #Blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation Summary

Girls Like Us

by Rachel Lloyd

Publication year 2011

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Trust & Doubt

Tags Civil Rights & Jim Crow South, Women`s Studies, Gender & Feminism, Social Justice, Politics & Government, Biography

Girls Like Us: Fighting For a World Where Girls Are Not For Sale, is a memoir by Rachel Lloyd that challenges how sexually exploited girls are treated and perceived in society. The book was originally published by Harper Perennial in February 2012 to positive reviews from various sources and figures such as Elle, Marie Claire, Demi Moore, Harlem Children’s Zone, and Tony Award-winning playwright and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sarah Jones. Rachel Lloyd, a survivor of... Read Girls Like Us Summary