We refuse A forceful history of Black resistance

Black people have resisted white supremacy with many strategies other than nonviolent civil disobedience, yet these methods are chronically understudied, according to this enthralling account. Carter Jackson (Force and Freedom), professor of Africana studies at Wellesley College, delves into a fascinating array of histories that highlight the ingeniousness, efficacy, and relatability of Black political maneuvering across several centuries of oppression. Her narrative includes moments when Black revolutionaries have gone on violent offensives, but she also emphasizes how, far more routinely, Black people have armed themselves for protection and defensive shows of force (Rosa Parks's kitchen table was "covered with guns" during political meetings; in the 19th century, Black women defended their families against slave catchers with "shovels and washboards"). Also explored are how prominent a role "refusal" has played in Black political resistance (Jackson shrewdly reframes the Great Migration as a widespread political, rather than purely economic, opting-out of the Jim Crow South); and how essential "joy" has been to Black strategizing against white power (during slavery, secret late-night dance parties were commonplace rebellions against white surveillance). By astutely delineating how Black resistance strategies have always existed on a spectrum between the binary of nonviolence vs. violence, Carter Jackson demolishes an unnecessarily rigid distinction. The result is an invigorating paradigm shift. (June)

A sharp alternative history of Black responses to white supremacy. Jackson, a professor of Africana studies and author of Force and Freedom, fuses solid research with an urgent authorial voice, bringing a fresh perspective to the haunted history of American race relations. "This entire book consists of examples of Black people refusing lies, violence, theft, mockery, or second-class citizenship," she writes. "It shows how our refusal denies whiteness and white supremacy their power and unearned authority." In five thematically interlaced chapters, Jackson encourages readers "to think outside the binary of violence and nonviolence." She argues that self-defense must be understood along the spectrum of resistance, including force, communal protection, and refuge in rituals of flight and joy. She examines the simmering of liberationist thought, exemplified by the Haitian revolution's aftermath and the abolitionist era. "The late 1850s were precarious times," she writes. "Black and white leaders sensed a breaking point regarding the institution of slavery in America." The author also explores "the powerful relationship between Black women and force in the face of anti-Black violence," unearthing startling stories of self-defense against the backdrop of horrific flashpoints--e.g., during the "Red Summer" of 1919 and the 1957 Little Rock integration crisis. By the late 1950s, writes the author, "the overall mood of Black Americans across the South was that white violence had to be met with force." Jackson astutely examines the temptations of migration or flight, "a constant refrain or remedy in African American history" because "leaving is a form of refusal...something Black people have done in response to white supremacy for centuries." This taut and fiery discussion focuses on historical research (with occasional repetition) and transformative figures (often little known) along with hard-won insight from Jackson's personal experiences. An uncompromising yet accessible rejoinder to conventional wisdom about race and violence in the U.S. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.