Contemporary Black Activists and Advocates

This week's Black History Month post highlights contemporary activist and advocates and their works, but also highlights some folks closer to home.

North Carolina has a history of Black advocates and activists--in no particular chronological order--from Pauli Murray to Ann Atwater to James Shepard to Ella Baker to the Greensboro Four (Franklin McCain, Jibreel Khazan, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond) to Nina Simone to the Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II.

Two time Durham university graduate (NC Central and Duke), Rev. Barber is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow (also known as the "Genius" grants), one of the revivers of The Poor People's Campaign, a founder of Moral Mondays and its expansion project Repairers of the Breach, organizer, activist, and intersectional advocate.

"We must find a way to make clear today that the moral and constitutional crisis we face in America is not just about Republicans versus Democrats or liberal versus conservative. It is really instead about fundamental right against wrong, fundamental humanity, who we will write off and who we will include."

from "Forward together, not one step back" [speech], UC Berkley, 19 April 2019.

Rev. Barber has published several books that are available through the Durham Tech Library.

Keep reading for more books by contemporary advocates and activists in the Durham Tech Library collections and for a link to tour Durham's civil rights legacy in murals (and some multimedia).

A small selection of modern classics on movements, justice, education and segregation, organizing, and other topics--

Some books on rest, resilience, mental and physical health--

Some books to expand our understanding because when we understand more, we do better by each other--

And a few selections that elevate and celebrate Black joy--

Durham has a history of activism and advocacy and also an exciting collection of murals representing that history.

From a civil rights mural ("We Must Remember and Continue to Tell" by Brenda Miller Holmes on Morris St.) to local legend Pauli Murray ("Pauli Murray from the Face Up" by Brett Cook on Foster St.), take yourself on a tour of Durham's murals and other exciting public art.

For some non-mural examples, see also

• a short film: "Counter Histories: Durham’s Royal Ice Cream Sit-Ins";
• and an article: "Black Student Activism and Durham’s Campus Movement" from Black Perspectives/African American Intellectual Perspective Historical Society

Stay tuned next week for our final Black History Month blog post featuring Durham Tech's favorite books by Black authors.