We Will Shoot Back

We Will Shoot Back
Author: Akinyele Omowale Umoja
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2013-04-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814725244

"Ranging from Reconstruction to the Black Power period, this thoroughly and creatively researched book effectively challenges long-held beliefs about the Black Freedom Struggle. It should make it abundantly clear that the violence/nonviolence dichotomy is too simple to capture the thinking of Black Southerners about the forms of effective resistance."—Charles M. Payne, University of Chicago The notion that the civil rights movement in the southern United States was a nonviolent movement remains a dominant theme of civil rights memory and representation in popular culture. Yet in dozens of southern communities, Black people picked up arms to defend their leaders, communities, and lives. In particular, Black people relied on armed self-defense in communities where federal government officials failed to safeguard activists and supporters from the violence of racists and segregationists, who were often supported by local law enforcement. In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the efficacy of the southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in Mississippi and most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. Armed self-defense was a major tool of survival in allowing some Black southern communities to maintain their integrity and existence in the face of White supremacist terror. By 1965, armed resistance, particularly self-defense, was a significant factor in the challenge of the descendants of enslaved Africans to overturning fear and intimidation and developing different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians. This riveting historical narrative relies upon oral history, archival material, and scholarly literature to reconstruct the use of armed resistance by Black activists and supporters in Mississippi to challenge racist terrorism, segregation, and fight for human rights and political empowerment from the early 1950s through the late 1970s. Akinyele Omowale Umoja is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University, where he teaches courses on the history of the Civil Rights, Black Power, and other social movements.

Negroes with Guns

Negroes with Guns
Author: Robert Franklin Williams
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 132
Release: 1998
Genre: African Americans
ISBN: 9780814327142

A southern black community's struggle to defend itself against racist groups.

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed
Author: Charles E Cobb Jr.
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2014-06-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0465080952

Visiting Martin Luther King Jr. at the peak of the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, journalist William Worthy almost sat on a loaded pistol. "Just for self defense," King assured him. It was not the only weapon King kept for such a purpose; one of his advisors remembered the reverend's Montgomery, Alabama home as "an arsenal." Like King, many ostensibly "nonviolent" civil rights activists embraced their constitutional right to selfprotection -- yet this crucial dimension of the Afro-American freedom struggle has been long ignored by history. In This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed, civil rights scholar Charles E. Cobb Jr. describes the vital role that armed self-defense played in the survival and liberation of black communities in America during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1960s. In the Deep South, blacks often safeguarded themselves and their loved ones from white supremacist violence by bearing -- and, when necessary, using -- firearms. In much the same way, Cobb shows, nonviolent civil rights workers received critical support from black gun owners in the regions where they worked. Whether patrolling their neighborhoods, garrisoning their homes, or firing back at attackers, these courageous men and women and the weapons they carried were crucial to the movement's success. Giving voice to the World War II veterans, rural activists, volunteer security guards, and self-defense groups who took up arms to defend their lives and liberties, This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed lays bare the paradoxical relationship between the nonviolent civil rights struggle and the Second Amendment. Drawing on his firsthand experiences in the civil rights movement and interviews with fellow participants, Cobb provides a controversial examination of the crucial place of firearms in the fight for American freedom.

The Deacons for Defense

The Deacons for Defense
Author: Lance Hill
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2006-02-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780807857021

In 1964 a small group of African American men in Jonesboro, Louisiana, defied the nonviolence policy of the mainstream civil rights movement and formed an armed self-defense organization--the Deacons for Defense and Justice--to protect movement workers fr

Race & Democracy

Race & Democracy
Author: Adam Fairclough
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 692
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780820331140

From the foundation of the New Orleans branch of the NAACP in 1915 to the beginning of Edwin Edwards' first term as governor in 1972, this is a wide-ranging study of the civil rights struggle in Louisiana. This edition contains a new preface which brings the narrative up-to-date, including coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

Long Way Down

Long Way Down
Author: Jason Reynolds
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2017-10-24
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1481438271

“An intense snapshot of the chain reaction caused by pulling a trigger.” —Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) A Newbery Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Honor Book A Printz Honor Book A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner for Young Adult Literature Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award An Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2017 A Vulture Best YA Book of 2017 A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of 2017 An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds’s electrifying novel that takes place in sixty potent seconds—the time it takes a kid to decide whether or not he’s going to murder the guy who killed his brother. A cannon. A strap. A piece. A biscuit. A burner. A heater. A chopper. A gat. A hammer A tool for RULE Or, you can call it a gun. That’s what fifteen-year-old Will has shoved in the back waistband of his jeans. See, his brother Shawn was just murdered. And Will knows the rules. No crying. No snitching. Revenge. That’s where Will’s now heading, with that gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, the gun that was his brother’s gun. He gets on the elevator, seventh floor, stoked. He knows who he’s after. Or does he? As the elevator stops on the sixth floor, on comes Buck. Buck, Will finds out, is who gave Shawn the gun before Will took the gun. Buck tells Will to check that the gun is even loaded. And that’s when Will sees that one bullet is missing. And the only one who could have fired Shawn’s gun was Shawn. Huh. Will didn’t know that Shawn had ever actually USED his gun. Bigger huh. BUCK IS DEAD. But Buck’s in the elevator? Just as Will’s trying to think this through, the door to the next floor opens. A teenage girl gets on, waves away the smoke from Dead Buck’s cigarette. Will doesn’t know her, but she knew him. Knew. When they were eight. And stray bullets had cut through the playground, and Will had tried to cover her, but she was hit anyway, and so what she wants to know, on that fifth floor elevator stop, is, what if Will, Will with the gun shoved in the back waistband of his jeans, MISSES. And so it goes, the whole long way down, as the elevator stops on each floor, and at each stop someone connected to his brother gets on to give Will a piece to a bigger story than the one he thinks he knows. A story that might never know an END…if Will gets off that elevator. Told in short, fierce staccato narrative verse, Long Way Down is a fast and furious, dazzlingly brilliant look at teenage gun violence, as could only be told by Jason Reynolds.

Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals

Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals
Author: Brian Enos
Publisher: Loose Cannon
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2012-03-21
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0985129255

Brian Enos's Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals - often considered the competitive shooters bible - includes in-depth coverage of the technical and mental aspects of training and competition, and will offer new insights as you continue to improve. "There is only one person in the world who I would allow to talk to my students, and that is Brian Enos." Rob Leatham, 15+ time National & World IPSC Champion. This isn't just another "how to fire a gun" book. This one talks about shooting.... The keys to consistent, high-speed shooting are within you right now. This book will show you ways to bring them out. Through Brian's advice, you'll learn how to recognize and break down the barriers that are limiting your performance—you may begin to look at shooting in an entirely different way. You'll learn to pressure-proof your match performance, how different types of shooting require different focal points, and you'll see how to develop an attitude that will let you reach beyond what you thought was your potential. You'll find a comprehensive set of exercises that will develop and sharpen your skills. You'll see how it's possible to drive the gun to wherever your eye can look. You'll discover that everything you need to know about your technique is told by the gun, if you know how to listen to it. And all the challenges and advanced techniques of practical shooting are covered too: prone, barricade, single-hand shooting, multiple targets, reloading, shooting on the move, and much more. You'll also get inside tips on IPSC strategies, steel shooting, shootoff tactics, Bianchi, and more. Chapters include: - Awareness & Focus - Tools of Shooting - Creative Shooting - Specific Challenges - Competition - Development - Shooting Tools - Revolver Shooting - Group Shooting

Hands Up, Don’t Shoot

Hands Up, Don’t Shoot
Author: Jennifer E Cobbina
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2020-05-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1479862320

Understanding the explosive protests over police killings and the legacy of racism Following the high-profile deaths of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, both cities erupted in protest over the unjustified homicides of unarmed black males at the hands of police officers. These local tragedies—and the protests surrounding them—assumed national significance, igniting fierce debate about the fairness and efficacy of the American criminal justice system. Yet, outside the gaze of mainstream attention, how do local residents and protestors in Ferguson and Baltimore understand their own experiences with race, place, and policing? In Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, Jennifer Cobbina draws on in-depth interviews with nearly two hundred residents of Ferguson and Baltimore, conducted within two months of the deaths of Brown and Gray. She examines how protestors in both cities understood their experiences with the police, how those experiences influenced their perceptions of policing, what galvanized Black Lives Matter as a social movement, and how policing tactics during demonstrations influenced subsequent mobilization decisions among protesters. Ultimately, she humanizes people’s deep and abiding anger, underscoring how a movement emerged to denounce both racial biases by police and the broader economic and social system that has stacked the deck against young black civilians. Hands Up, Don’t Shoot is a remarkably current, on-the-ground assessment of the powerful, protestor-driven movement around race, justice, and policing in America.

Black Power Encyclopedia [2 Volumes]

Black Power Encyclopedia [2 Volumes]
Author: Akinyele Umoja
Publisher: Greenwood
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-07-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1440840067

An invaluable resource that documents the Black Power Movement by its cultural representation and promotion of self-determination and self-defense, and showcases the movement's influence on Black communities in America from 1965 to the mid-1970s. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement's emphasis on the rhetoric and practice of nonviolence and social and political goal of integration, Black Power was defined by the promotion of Black self-determination, Black consciousness, independent Black politics, and the practice of armed self-defense. Black Power changed communities, curriculums, and culture in the United States and served as an inspiration for social justice internationally. This unique two-volume set provides readers with an understanding of Black Power's important role in the turbulence, social change, and politics of the 1960s and 1970s in America and how the concepts of the movement continue to influence contemporary Black politics, culture, and identity. Cross-disciplinary and broad in its approach, Black Power Encyclopedia: From "Black Is Beautiful" to Urban Uprisings explores the emergence and evolution of the Black Power Movement in the United States some 50 years ago. The entries examine the key players, organizations and institutions, trends, and events of the period, enabling readers to better understand the ways in which African Americans broke through racial barriers, developed a positive identity, and began to feel united through racial pride and the formation of important social change organizations. The encyclopedia also covers the important impact of the more militant segments of the movement, such as Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers. Gives students and general readers a comprehensive overview of the Black Power Movement and an understanding of its importance within the turbulence and politics of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States as well as in the context of modern-day civil rights Provides insight into important concepts such as Black self-determination, Black consciousness, independent Black politics, and independent institutions Features contributions from premier Black Power scholars as well as Black Power activists Offers topical and biographical entries, a timeline of events, and a bibliography of key print and nonprint sources of additional information

"Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself"

Author: Florian Huber
Publisher: Little, Brown Spark
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2020-03-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 031653434X

Named a Best History Book of 2019 by The Times (UK) The astounding true story of how thousands of ordinary Germans, overcome by shame, guilt, and fear, killed themselves after the fall of the Third Reich and the end of World War II. By the end of April 1945 in Germany, the Third Reich had fallen and invasion was underway. As the Red Army advanced, horrifying stories spread about the depravity of its soldiers. For many German people, there seemed to be nothing left but disgrace and despair. For tens of thousands of them, the only option was to choose death -- for themselves and for their children. "Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself" recounts this little-known mass event. Using diaries, letters, and memoirs, historian Florian Huber traces the euphoria of many ordinary Germans as Hitler restored national pride; their indifference as the Führer's political enemies, Jews, and other minorities began to suffer; and the descent into despair as the war took its terrible toll, especially after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Above all, he investigates how suicide became a contagious epidemic as the country collapsed. Drawing on eyewitness accounts and other primary sources, "Promise Me You'll Shoot Yourself" presents a riveting portrait of a nation in crisis, and sheds light on a dramatic yet largely unknown episode of postwar Germany.