WE REFUSE: A FORCEFUL HISTORY OF BLACK RESISTANCE BY KELLIE CARTER JACKSON

Named a Best Book of 2024 by Smithsonian*Kirkus*Chicago Review of Books*Emancipator

Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s nonviolence and Malcolm Xs by any means necessary. InWe Refuse, historian Kellie Carter Jackson looks beyond 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. Forcefrom work stoppages and property destruction to armed revolthas played a pivotal part in securing freedom and justice for Black people for centuries. But force 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.

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