We Refuse
A Forceful History of Black Resistance
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4.6 • 7 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
An “unsparing, erudite, and incisive” (Jelani Cobb, staff writer, The New Yorker) reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy
Named a Best Book of 2024 by Smithsonian * Kirkus * Chicago Review of Books * Emancipator * Ms. Magazine
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.
Winner of the Organization of American Historians’ 2025 Darlene Clark Hines Award
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Amazing and Life-Changing
I loved reading the parallels and different elements of MyPeoples’ dealings with trauma, fear, and centuries of gained strength. Continuing to have joy in times of darkness, the urge to move from unsafe and hateful spaces with flight, and the the fight of resistances with each of those elements included. I loved every page and every, historically, real-life telling. Jackson opens a clear point of view in every chapter and allows the reader to place things into life-changing perspectives to carry on for themselves in life. I enjoyed this book very much!!!