"A powerful — and personal — account of the movement and its players."—The Washington Post

“This perceptive resource on radical black liberation movements in the 21st century can inform anyone wanting to better understand . . . how to make social change.”—Publishers Weekly

The breadth and impact of Black Lives Matter in the United States has been extraordinary. Between 2012 and 2016, thousands of people marched, rallied, held vigils, and engaged in direct actions to protest and draw attention to state and vigilante violence against Black people. What began as outrage over the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin and the exoneration of his killer, and accelerated during the Ferguson uprising of 2014, has evolved into a resurgent Black Freedom Movement, which includes a network of more than fifty organizations working together under the rubric of the Movement for Black Lives coalition. Employing a range of creative tactics and embracing group-centered leadership models, these visionary young organizers, many of them women, and many of them queer, are not only calling for an end to police violence, but demanding racial justice, gender justice, and systemic change.

In Making All Black Lives Matter, award-winning historian and longtime activist Barbara Ransby outlines the scope and genealogy of this movement, documenting its roots in Black feminist politics and situating it squarely in a Black radical tradition, one that is anticapitalist, internationalist, and focused on some of the most marginalized members of the Black community. From the perspective of a participant-observer, Ransby maps the movement, profiles many of its lesser-known leaders, measures its impact, outlines its challenges, and looks toward its future.

About the Author

Barbara Ransby is a historian, author, and longtime activist. She is the author of the acclaimed biography Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement. Ransby was one of the founders of African American Women in Defense of Ourselves in 1991 and the Black Radical Congress in 1998. She is the editor of the journal Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, and Professor and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Visit barbararansby.com for tour dates and speaking engagements.

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Introduction

1. Roots and Recalibrated Expectations: Prologue to a Movement
2. Justice for Trayvon: The Spark
3. The Ferguson Uprising and Its Reverberations
4. Black Rage and Blacks in Power: Baltimore and Electoral Politics
5. Themes, Dilemmas, and Challenges
6. Backlash and a Price
7. A View from the Local: Chicago’s Fighting Spirit
8. Political Quilters and Maroon Spaces
Conclusion

Epilogue: A Personal Reflection
Acknowledgments
Notes
Glossary
Key Figures
Selected Bibliography

Learn More

Visit Barbara Ransby's website.

Reviews

“This perceptive resource on radical black liberation movements in the 21st century can inform anyone wanting to better understand . . . how to make social change.”
— Publishers Weekly

"In a political moment where Black liberatory work rarely includes time for archiving, reflection, and record-keeping, Making All Black Lives Matter is a critical contribution. . . . Essentially, where mainstream narratives proclaim that movements and protests simply erupt erratically from anger, pure emotion, and vengeance, Ransby is a balm. She shows how every mass-led struggle sits atop the labor, sacrifices, and investments of many organizers who will never be seen, named, or rewarded for their contributions."
— Black Perspectives

“An accessible analysis of contemporary American racial-justice organizing...This perceptive resource on radical black liberation movements in the 21st century can inform anyone wanting to better understand why these movements sprang up or how to make social change.”
— Publishers Weekly

“As accessible as it is urgent and necessary. Ransby’s eyewitness account of the players and the events that built the Black Lives Matter movement spring to life with an immediacy and familiarity that provides rich color and feeling to what might have been, in other hands, a bloodless march through recent history.”
— The Washington Post

“As much a movement biography (or autobiography) as a history. Ransby was there, in the ranks of the leadership, and tells the story with the urgency and passion we might expect from a participant.”
— In These Times

“When Ransby writes, ‘We look to the new generation of organizers, dreamers, visionaries, and freedom fighters to forge out of this current state of emergency, this current bleak moment, a new path, for Black people, for all people, and for the planet,’ one feels that she is speaking not just to the amazing constellation of individuals profiled in her book, but to her readers, too.”
— Rethinking Schools

"Deserves a place in the personal libraries of all those interested in learning more about U.S. history and liberation movements as well as in every public library."
— RGWS: A Feminist Review

“Deserves a place in the personal libraries of all those interested in learning more about U.S. history and liberation movements as well as in every public library. Accessible and equipped with a glossary of commonly used language in the text and a list of key figures this book is a great read for those beginning their activist journeys as well as for more seasoned activists who want to continue to expand their political education.”
— RGWS: A Feminist Review

“Award-winning historian and longtime activist Barbara Ransby outlines the scope and genealogy of this movement, documenting its roots in Black feminist politics and situating it squarely in a Black radical tradition.”

— EcoWatch

"Barbara Ransby's book, Making All Black Lives Matter, is the perfect companion. The book maps the movement, profiles many of its lesser-known leaders, measures its impact, outlines its challenges and looks toward its future. It's a crucial guide for anyone who wants to better understand the origins of the movement and the moment we're living in."
— In These Times

“I can imagine no more perfect example of the dedicated scholar-activist than Barbara Ransby. She now offers us an analysis of the Movement for Black Lives, and its historical continuities and ruptures, that reflects both her considerable skills as a historian and her rich experience as an activist. This book passionately urges us to adopt the radical and feminist versions of democracy that will move us forward.”—Angela Y. Davis, author of Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement

“It’s rare that we get to read the work of Black feminist historians who have the ability to shape present-day history through a leftist lens. Barbara Ransby’s Making All Black Lives Matter is one of the most important texts for this generation and generations to come—truth telling so clarifying it begs us to be better and bolder. Everyone, read this book, then read it again.”—Patrisse Khan-Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter Global Network and best-selling coauthor of When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

“Barbara Ransby is a national treasure. When it comes to understanding pathways to liberation that simultaneously account for the deep and nuanced history of our country as well as global struggle, a frontline perspective on organizing and social change, and an intersectional lens on black people and the many aspects of our fight for freedom, there are few voices I trust more. Ransby offers us the insights of the past, through an uncompromising critical lens, as a means of illuminating the future. I'm so grateful that we get to live in her time.”—Eve L. Ewing, author of Electric Arches

“Historian and activist Barbara Ransby locates the Black feminist roots of the Black Lives Matter movement, providing rich and necessary context to the critical role played by Black women in this struggle against police abuse and violence. Ransby’s insistence on centering the experiences of Black women within the movement is not simply an exercise in demography, but it is fundamental to understanding the organizing principles, horizontal structure, and the leader-full strategy that defines the Movement for Black Lives. Ransby writes with urgency, passion, and a deep love for Black people. Get this book to understand where the movement is at and where it has the potential to take all of us.”—Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

“This is a call to arms that powerfully reveals the Black Lives Matter movement for what it is: anchored in black feminist and intersectional politics; principled coalition-building; revolutionary art and cultural transformation; love; and a shared commitment to defending all black life from degradation, dispossession, defamation, and premature death. An urgent book on an urgent topic.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination

Awards

Angela Y. Davis Award for Public Scholarship 2018 2018, American Studies Association

About the Book