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About These Lists
The first list includes books you can find as eBooks through Decker Library and the Enoch Pratt Free Library in an effort to provide quick access.
Many of these books cover multiple genres and topics and could be rearranged a number of ways. Sometimes books are repeated in order to offer them as eBook, for example, as well as print book.
These lists cover a wide range of topics because civic unrest lies within a historical context. Unrest does not spur out of nowhere in a solitary state, but rather is more like a tree with roots and many branches. Similarly, there are many other books not included on these lists that are available and authoritative on these topics. Please use this as a starting place.
Hover over the "i" icon to read descriptions (all descriptions are pulled from other websites/publishers).
Read anywhere book list: eBooks available through Decker Library and Enoch Pratt Free Library
Current MICA community members can read an eBook directly on their device, or download an eBook. All Maryland residents (or property owners) are eligible for a library card from the Enoch Pratt Free Library (EPFL). This includes students who attend school in Maryland. We highly suggest not only utilizing Decker Library's resources, but also EPFL's as they have an incredible amount of databases, audiovisual materials, books, and more. You can request an eCard, giving you access to resources like their databases, eBooks, streaming films, more, or apply for a physical library card.
Decker Library eBooks
Enoch Pratt Free Library eBooks (some might also be available as audio books)
Read about Baltimore: Historical through Contemporary
by
Baum, Howell S.
An American border city -- A long black campaign for equality -- Opening the racial door slightly -- Desegregation by free choice -- Modest change -- Parents' protest against continuing segregation -- Growing integrationism and the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. -- Federal intervention -- Federal officials, the school board, and parents negotiate -- The city's court victory.
The Baltimore Book: New Views of Local History
by
Fee, Elizabeth. Shopes, Linda. Zeidman, Linda.
Baltimore ‘68: Riots and Rebirth in an American City
by
Elfenbein, Jessica I. Hollowak, Thomas L. Nix, Elizabeth M. (Elizabeth Morrow), 1964- Nix, Elizabeth M. 1964-
Annotation In 1968, Baltimore was home to a variety of ethnic, religious, & racial communities that, like those in other American cities, were confronting a quickly declining industrial base. This book offers chapters on events leading up to the turmoil of that year & four rigorously edited & annotated oral histories.
The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
by
Simon, David
The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.
Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable 15-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough, Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the country and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades, and the welfare system have accomplished so little. This extraordinary book is a crucial look at the price of the drug culture and the poignant scenes of hope, caring, and love that astonishingly rise in the midst of a place America has abandoned.
Freedom's port : the African American community of Baltimore, 1790-1860
by
Phillips, Christopher
Slavery and the growth of Baltimore -- The roots of quasi-freedom -- The urban mélange -- The contours of quasi-freedom -- Climbing Jacob's ladder -- The maturation of a Black community -- "Cursed with freedom" -- "Freedom shall not perish".
From Mobtown to Charm City: New Perspectives on Baltimore's Past
by
Elfenbein, J.; Breihan, J.R.; Hollowak, T.L.
A collection of thirteen original and illuminating essays representing the latest scholarship drawn from the Baltimore History Conference of 1996 and 1999 and ranging across a wide spectrum of subjects. Touching upon such varied facets of Baltimore life as an early murder trial, alley houses, volunteer fire companies, slums, secession, post-Civil War racial accomodation, World War II aircraft workers, a populist uprising in the 1960s, public housing, and the school system, the authors amply demonstrate yet again that small subjects give rise to larger ideas.
A New Deal for All?: Race and Class Struggles in Depression-Era Baltimore
by
Skotnes, Andor
In A New Deal for All? Andor Skotnes examines the interrelationships between the Black freedom movement and the workers' movement in Baltimore and Maryland during the Great Depression and the early years of the Second World War. Adding to the growing body of scholarship on the long civil rights struggle, he argues that such "border state" movements helped resuscitate and transform the national freedom and labor struggles. In the wake of the Great Crash of 1929, the freedom and workers' movements had to rebuild themselves, often in new forms. In the early 1930s, deepening commitments to antiracism led Communists and Socialists in Baltimore to launch racially integrated initiatives for workers' rights, the unemployed, and social justice. An organization of radicalized African American youth, the City-Wide Young People's Forum, emerged in the Black community and became involved in mass educational, anti-lynching, and Buy Where You Can Work campaigns, often in multiracial alliances with other progressives. During the later 1930s, the movements of Baltimore merged into new and renewed national organizations, especially the CIO and the NAACP, and built mass regional struggles. While this collaboration declined after the war, Skotnes shows that the earlier cooperative efforts greatly shaped national freedom campaigns to come - including the civil rights movement. - from Amazon.
Not In My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City
by
Pietila, Antero
Baltimore is the setting for one of the most penetrating examinations of bigotry and residential segregation ever published in the United States. Antero Pietila tells the story of how discrimination toward African Americans and Jews shaped the cities in which we live. Eugenics, racial thinking, and white supremacist attitudes influenced even the federal government's actions toward housing, dooming American cities to ghettoization. The Federal Housing Administration continued discriminatory housing policies even into the 1960s. This all-American tale is told through the prism of Baltimore, from its early suburbanization in the 1880s to the consequences of white flight after World War II, and into the first decade of the twenty-first century. The events are real, and so are the heroes and villains. - from publisher.
Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore: Rebuilding Abandoned Communities in America
by
Gomez, Marisela, B.
This book examines the historical and current practices of rebuilding abandoned and disinvested communities in America. Using a community in East Baltimore as an example, Race, Class, Power, and Organizing in East Baltimore shows how the social structure of race and class segregation of the past contributed in the creation of our present day urban poor and low-income communities of color; and continue to affect the way we rebuild these communities today. Specific to East Baltimore is the presence of a powerful and prestigious medical complex which has directly and indirectly affected the abandonment and rebuilding of East Baltimore. While it has grown in power and land over the past 100 years, the neighborhoods around it have decreased in size and capital, widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The author offers a critical analysis of the relationships between powerful private institutions like the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions and government and their intention in rebuilding urban communities by asking the question How do we determine equity in benefit? Focusing on a current rebuilding project using eminent domain to displace historical African-American communities, and the acquiring of land for private development, this book details the role of community organizing in challenging these types of non-community participatory rebuilding processes, resulting in the gentrification of urban neighborhoods. The detailed analysis of the community organizing process when families are displaced offers similarly affected communities a tool box for challenging current developers and government in unfair rebuilding practices. The context of these practices highlights the current laws and policies that contribute to continued displacement and disadvantage to poor communities without addressing the rhetoric of the intention of government-subsidized private development. This book examines the effect of such non-participatory and non-transparent rebuilding practices on the health of the people and place. - from publisher.
United States History - History, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement
Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
by
Etheridge, Eric.
Features mug shots and personal details for more than eighty people who were arrested and convicted for challenging pre-civil rights Mississippi's segregation laws, in a volume that includes interviews with former Freedom Riders.
Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice
by
Arsenault, Raymond
The saga of the Freedom Rides is an improbable, almost unbelievable story. In the course of six months in 1961, four hundred and fifty Freedom Riders expanded the realm of the possible in American politics, redefining the limits of dissent and setting the stage for the civil rights movement. In this new version of his encyclopedic Freedom Riders, Raymond Arsenault offers a significantly condensed and tautly written account. With characters and plot lines rivaling those of the most imaginative fiction, this is a tale of heroic sacrifice and unexpected triumph. Arsenault recounts how a group of volunteers-blacks and whites-came together to travel from Washington D.C. through the Deep South, defying Jim Crow laws in buses and terminals and putting their lives on the line for racial justice. News photographers captured the violence in Montgomery, shocking the nation and sparking a crisis in the Kennedy administration. Here are the key players-their fears and courage, their determination and second thoughts, and the agonizing choices they faced as they took on Jim Crow-and triumphed. Winner of the Owsley Prize Publication is timed to coincide with the airing of the American Experience miniseries documenting the Freedom Rides" Arsenault brings vividly to life a defining moment in modern American history." -Eric Foner, The New York Times Book Review" Authoritative, compelling history." -William Grimes, The New York Times" For those interested in understanding 20th-century America, this is an essential book." -Roger Wilkins, Washington Post Book World" Arsenault's record of strategy sessions, church vigils, bloody assaults, mass arrests, political maneuverings and personal anguish captures the mood and the turmoil, the excitement and the confusion of the movement and the time." -Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe
Race and the Invisible Hand: How White Networks Exclude Black Men from Blue-Collar Jobs
by
Royster, Deirdre A.
From the time of Booker T. Washington to today, and William Julius Wilson, the advice dispensed to young black men has invariably been, "Get a trade." Deirdre Royster has put this folk wisdom to an empirical test—and, in Race and the Invisible Hand, exposes the subtleties and discrepancies of a workplace that favors the white job-seeker over the black. At the heart of this study is the question: Is there something about young black men that makes them less desirable as workers than their white peers? And if not, then why do black men trail white men in earnings and employment rates? Royster seeks an answer in the experiences of 25 black and 25 white men who graduated from the same vocational school and sought jobs in the same blue-collar labor market in the early 1990s. After seriously examining the educational performances, work ethics, and values of the black men for unique deficiencies, her study reveals the greatest difference between young black and white men—access to the kinds of contacts that really help in the job search and entry process.
Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965
by
Crawford, Vicki L. Rouse, Jacqueline Anne. Woods, Barbara
"Articles ... originally presented at the conference Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965, held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, October 12-15, 1988 ... organized by the Division of Continuing Education of Georgia State University and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc."--T.p. verso.
Gender, Politics, Black Womanhood, Feminism
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism
by
hooks, bell
"A classic work of feminist scholarship, Ain't I a Woman has become a must-read for all those interested in the nature of Black womanhood. Examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of Back womanhood, Black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the Black woman's involvement with feminism, hooks attempts to move us beyond racist and sexist assumptions. The result is nothing short of groundbreaking, giving this book a critical place on every feminist scholar's bookshelf. "-- Provided by publisher.
Autobiography, Biography, Memoirs
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
by
X, Malcolm
With its first great victory in the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the civil rights movement gained the powerful momentum it needed to sweep forward into its crucial decade, the 1960s. As voices of protest and change rose above the din of history and false promises, one voice sounded more urgently, more passionately, than the rest. Malcolm X—once called the most dangerous man in America—challenged the world to listen and learn the truth as he experienced it. And his enduring message is as relevant today as when he first delivered it.
In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement to veteran writer and journalist Alex Haley . In a unique collaboration, Haley worked with Malcolm X for nearly two years, interviewing, listening to, and understanding the most controversial leader of his time.
Raised in Lansing, Michigan, Malcolm Little journeyed on a road to fame as astonishing as it was unpredictable. Drifting from childhood poverty to petty crime, Malcolm found himself in jail. It was there that he came into contact with the teachings of a little-known Black Muslim leader renamed Elijah Muhammad. The newly renamed Malcolm X devoted himself body and soul to the teachings of Elijah Muhammad and the world of Islam, becoming the Nation’s foremost spokesman. When his conscience forced him to break with Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity to reach African Americans across the country with an inspiring message of pride, power, and self-determination.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X defines American culture and the African American struggle for social and economic equality that has now become a battle for survival. Malcolm’s fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American Dream, and the inherent racism in a society that denies its nonwhite citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X stands as the definitive statement of a movement and a man whose work was never completed but whose message is timeless. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand America.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
by
King, Martin Luther, Jr.
The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America
by
Watkins, D.
To many in the age of Obama, America had succeeded in “going beyond race,” putting the divisions of the past behind us. And then seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot by a wannabe cop in Florida; and then eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; and then Baltimore blew up; and then gunfire shattered a prayer meeting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Suddenly the entire country awakened to a stark fact: African Americans—particularly young black men—are an endangered species.
Now the country’s urban war zone is brought powerfully to life by a rising young literary talent, D. Watkins. The author fought his way up on the east side (the “beast side”) of Baltimore, Maryland—or “Bodymore, Murderland,” as his friends call it—surviving murderous business rivals in the drug trade and equally predatory lawmen. Throughout it all, he pursued his education, earning a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, while staying rooted in his community.
When black residents of Baltimore finally decided they had had enough—after the brutal killing of twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray while in police custody—Watkins was on the streets when the city erupted. He writes about his bleeding hometown with the razor-sharp insights of someone who bleeds along with it. Here are true dispatches from the other side of America.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood
by
Ta-Nehisi Coates
A memoir of growing up in the tough world of Baltimore in the 1980s chronicles the relationship between the author and his father, a Vietnam vet and Black Panther affiliate, and his campaign to keep his sons from falling victim to the temptations of the streets.
Between the World and Me
by
Ta-Nehisi Coates
"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him -- most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear. What were they afraid of? In Tremble for My Country, Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings -- moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago's South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America's 'long war on black people,' or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police. In his trademark style -- a mix of lyrical personal narrative, reimagined history, essayistic argument, and reportage -- Coates provides readers a thrillingly illuminating new framework for understanding race: its history, our contemporary dilemma, and where we go from here"--
Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther
by
Conway, Marshall
In 1970 the FBI framed Marshall Conway for the murder of a Baltimore city police officer. He was 24 years old. They threw him in prison and tried to relegate him to a life marked by nothing but legal appeals, riots and lockdowns. 40 years later, still incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit, Marshall Conway continues to resist.
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
by
Moore, Wes
Two kids with the same name were born blocks apart in the same decaying city within a few years of each other. One grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, army officer, White House Fellow, and business leader. The other is serving a life sentence in prison. Here is the story of two boys and the journey of a generation.
Policing, Prisons, Incarceration
Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District
by
Moskos, Peter
When Harvard-trained sociologist Peter Moskos left the classroom to become a cop in Baltimore's Eastern District, he was thrust deep into police culture and the ways of the street--the nerve-rattling patrols, the thriving drug corners, and a world of poverty and violence that outsiders never see. In Cop in the Hood, Moskos reveals the truths he learned on the midnight shift.
Through Moskos's eyes, we see police academy graduates unprepared for the realities of the street, success measured by number of arrests, and the ultimate failure of the war on drugs. In addition to telling an explosive insider's story of what it is really like to be a police officer, he makes a passionate argument for drug legalization as the only realistic way to end drug violence--and let cops once again protect and serve. In a new afterword, Moskos describes the many benefits of foot patrol--or, as he calls it, "policing green."
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Street
by
Simon, David
From the creator of HBO's The Wire, the classic book about homicide investigation that became the basis for the hit television show
The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the center of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world.
David Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide unit, and this electrifying book tells the true story of a year on the violent streets of an American city. The narrative follows Donald Worden, a veteran investigator; Harry Edgerton, a black detective in a mostly white unit; and Tom Pellegrini, an earnest rookie who takes on the year's most difficult case, the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl.
Originally published fifteen years ago, Homicide became the basis for the acclaimed television show of the same name. This new edition--which includes a new introduction, an afterword, and photographs--revives this classic, riveting tale about the men who work on the dark side of the American experience.
A Monument to Good Intentions: The Story of the Maryland Penitentiary, 1804-1995
by
Shugg, Wallace
An extraordinary narrative of the oldest continuously operating penitentiary in the Western World, based on prison records, investigative reports, and personal interviews.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness
by
Alexander, Michelle
As the United States celebrates the nation's "triumph over race" with the election of Barack Obama, the majority of young black men in major American cities are locked behind bars or have been labeled felons for life. Although Jim Crow laws have been wiped off the books, an astounding percentage of the African American community remains trapped in a subordinate status, much like their grandparents before them, who lived under an explicit system of control.--Book jacket.
Art, Artwork, Exhibitions
Baltimore Art Rising : a collection of poems and designs contributed by students at Dew More Baltimore and Maryland Institute College of Art
by
Horne, Brockett; Morrison, Kenneth; Rao, Shyla; Weiss, Maureen; Maryland Institute, College of Art.; Dew More Baltimore
This book represents an inspired collaboration between seemingly unlikely partners: Art Education undergraduate and graduate students, high school spoken word poets, and beginning graphic design college students. What we all have in common is a desire to effectively communicate our thoughts about the world and our experiences within it. We are all excited to share with you the end result, a compilation of efforts sent by those who believe that art and design can change the fabric of Baltimore.- page 2.
Baltimore Open City
by
D'Oca, Daniel. Rich, Damon. Rojas, James. Faust, Aiden. Hollowak, Thomas L.
"For the exhibition Baltimore: Open City, students of Maryland Institute College of Art's Exhibition Development Seminar invited scholars, activists, community-based organizations, local artists, and visiting artist Damon Rich to create a series of installations, workshops, and other public programs that investigate the ways in which Baltimore is and is not an open city. We welcome our neighbors to join us in exploring what a more open city might look and feel like. " Baltimore Open City tumblr web page.
The Phoenix Rising : The Artpartheid Zine Vol. 1
by
tulloch, j.d. editor; Art Uprising
"We are United Diverse Artists or UDA, an artist group that noticed the segregation, white supremacy, and lack of people of color receiving access to funding sources for the Arts. We are aware of the current climate of inequity for space, limited locations, funding, resources and just plain access. Because we are aware of these inequalities we want to talk about them, with other artists and stakeholders in our arts community. We noticed unequal representation on boards or decision making policies when it comes to funding for art projects. We noticed how the Baltimore arts scene is divided in to the haves/ have nots. For example, when it comes to performance reviews in the media there is very little coverage of black plays or people of color in print. We want to level the playing field so everyone has equal access to the arts in Baltimore. Our children are depending on us. This effects us all. - from interview with Sheila Gaskins by BMore Art."