@NEIU Libraries Now

In 1979, James Baldwin wrote a letter to his literary agent describing his next project, "Remember This House." The book was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of three of his close friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. At the time of Baldwin's death in 1987, he left behind only 30 completed pages of this manuscript. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished.

In 2013 in Sanford, Florida, vigilante George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of 17-year-old African American Trayvon Martin. As a result, the struggle against police violence flared up under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and turned into one of the biggest grassroots movements in the United States. This film interviewed co-founder Patrisse Cullors about the various forms of violence against black citizens, and why resistance is essential.

Born out of a social media post, the Black Lives Matter movement has sparked discussion about race and inequality across the world. In this spirited conversation with Mia Birdsong, the movement's three founders share what they've learned about leadership and what provides them with hope and inspiration in the face of painful realities. Their advice on how to participate in ensuring freedom for everybody: join something, start something and "sharpen each other, so that we all can rise."

The new FRONTLINE documentary, Policing the Police, is a provocative journey inside one police force that's been ordered to reform by the Department of Justice: the Newark Police Department in New Jersey. Take a nuanced glimpse into how topics in the national discussion about race and policing are playing out every day on the streets of Newark, in community members' homes, and in the city's police precincts.

Cultural theorist Brittney Cooper examines racism through the lens of time, showing us how historically it has been stolen from people of color, resulting in lost moments of joy and connection, lost years of healthy quality of life and the delay of progress. A candid, thought-provoking take on history and race that may make you reconsider your understanding of time, and your place in it.

A guide from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which is a piece of the Talking About Race series.

A selection of temporarily free scholarship from Project MUSE publishers on the history of structural racism in the United States and how the country can realize anti-racist reform.

Articles collected by JSTOR over the last five years providing context and history about institutionalized racism.

This organization is a Black, woman-led, young person-directed organization rooted in the Black radical tradition.

This is a transformative movement campaign to put an end to the different forms of gender violence that Black women, girls, femmes and gender non-conforming people face every day.

Staking its roots in the long legacy of liberatory education, this organization provides training in activism for teens and young adults of color and offers workshops to adult allies of all races to help in the creation of a more just world.

This South Side organization describes itself as a healing space for people of color, “an alliance of artists and activists organizing through a creative lens to imagine a world without prisons and police.”

This South Side organization addresses racial inequities by mentoring teens and young adults of color, and by building up predominantly Black neighborhoods on a block-by-block basis. Volunteers of all races are currently being sought to help repair small businesses that have been damaged by looting. A volunteer signup sheet is available on the website.

This is Barack Obama’s organization for mentoring young men of color.