With activists taking to the streets with renewed vigor to fight racism, inequality, and capitalism, this collection of classic writing and primary documents restores the historical grounding and revolutionary genealogy of today's protest movements. Including key writings of thinkers and figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, Hubert Harrison, Harry Haywood, Claude McKay, Claudia Jones, C.L.R. James, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde and the Combahee River Collective, this is the most comprehensive gathering of revolutionary black voices ever assembled. And in highlighting the central debates that animated the movement through its long history, it registers the monumental import that black radical theory brings to our understanding of the past and present alike. Incisive contextual materials from the editors help situate each contribution in its historical and political setting, and a forward from Barbara Ransby argues for the resounding purchase these authors have for our own time. The book is a powerful testament to over 150 years of struggle, a valuable resource for both scholars and activists.

Author Biography

Ben Mabie is the managing editor of Viewpoint Magazine, a journal of Marxist theory as it is articulated within mass movements. He works as an editorial assistant at Verso Books. Asad Haider is a founding editor of Viewpoint Magazine and author of Mistaken Identity: Socialism and the Fight Against White Supremacy. Erin Gray is a historian and theorist of lynching. Her writing appears GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, Open Letter: A Canadian Journal of Writing and Theory, The International Feminist Journal of Politics, Mute, Upping the Anti: A Journal of Theory and Action, and Viewpoint Magazine.