The Swan Center
Digital Library
Need a starting point for research that centers Black Lives and/or the impact of anti-Black Racism?
We’ve curated this space just for you!
The Digital Library is an ever-evolving repository of research that centers various aspects of Black-identified life and how it intersects with white supremacy, patriarchy, and oppression. For those beginning their journey of research, this space serves as a literary spark of evidence-based materials. As a living library, we expect this space to expand with the help of wonderful learners like you! If you wish to provide materials to the library, please send those resources to info@swancenteradvocacy.org.
We wish to thank our volunteer curator, Dr. Brandy Simula, for their work on this project.
Black Joy
Dent, Gina. "Black pleasure, black joy: An introduction."
Drake, Simone. The Marketability of Black Joy: After “I Do” in Black Romance Film
Holmes, Barbara. Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church.
Johnson, Javon. Black Joy in the time of Ferguson.
Lené, Quenna. Setting the Stage for Black Choice: Theatre of the Oppressed as Container for Resistance, Black Joy
Lu, Jessica and Steele, Catherine. ‘Joy is resistance’: cross-platform resilience and (re)invention of Black oral culture online
Steele, Catherine, and Lu, Jessica. "Defying death: Black joy as resistance online." In A networked self and birth, life, death.
Black Resistance
Allen, Shaonta. “Colin Kaepernick, Black Resistance & Institutionalized Racism in the NFL.”
Barlow, Jameta. #WhenIFellInLoveWithMyself: Disrupting the Gaze and Loving Our Black Womanist Self As an Act of Political Warfare
Battle, Nishaun. Black Girlhood, Punishment, and Resistance: Reimagining Justice for Black Girls in Virginia.
Buggs, Shantel. Rejecting white distraction: a critique of the white logic and white methods in academic publishing
Burrowes, Nicole. “Building the World We Want to See: Sista II Sista and the Struggle Against State and Interpersonal Violence.”
Davis, Angela. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Davis, Shardé. Taking back the power: An analysis of Black women’s communicative resistance.
Green, Kai, Taylor, Je Naé, Williams, Pascale Ifé, and Christopher Roberts. #BlackHealingMatters in the Time of #BlackLivesMatter
Harvey Wingfield, Adia. “’Reclaiming Our Time’: Black Women, Resistance, and Rising Inequality.”
Joseph, Ralina. Postracial Resistance: Black Women, Media, and the Uses of Strategic Ambiguity.
Kerrison, Erin, Cobbina, Jennifer, and Bender, Kimberly. “Your Pants Won’t Save You”: Why Black Youth Challenge Race-Based Police Surveillance and the Demands of Black Respectability Politics
McCurn, Alexis. “I Am Not a Prostitute’: How Young Black Women Challenge Street-based Micro-interactional Assaults.”
McCurn, Alexis. “‘Keeping It Fresh’: How Young Black Women Negotiate Self-Representation and Controlling Images in Urban Space.”
McMillam Cottom, Tressie. Thick and Other Essays.
Ransby, Barbara. Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century
Robnett, Belinda. How Long? How Long?: African American Women in the Struggle for Civil Rights
Smith Foster, Frances and Guy-Sheftall, Beverly. Still Brave: The Evolution of Black Women's Studies
Springer, Kimberly. Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968–1980
Steele, Catherine. “Signifyin’ bitching and blogging: Black women and resistance discourse online,” In The Intersectional Internet: Race, Sex, Class and Culture Online
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective.
Whitaker, Manya and Grollman, Eric Anthony. Counternarratives from Women of Color Academics: Bravery, Vulnerability, and Resistance
Institutional Racism
Alexander, Michelle. 2013 Talk on the New Jim Crow.
Alexander, Michelle. 2020. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
Anderson, Carol. One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy.
Branch, Enobong. Opportunity Denied: Limiting Black Women to Devalued Work
Cooper Owens, Deirdre. Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology.
Crewnshaw, Kimberlé. Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected.
Davis, Angela. Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
Davis, Dáne-Ain. Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth
Hillary Potter. Racing the Storm: Racial Implications and Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina.
Irizarry, Yasmiyn. “Selling Students Short: Racial Differences in Teachers' Evaluations of High, Average, and Low Performing Students”
Kendi, Ibrahim X. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.
Levchak, Charisse. Microaggressions and Modern Racism: Endurance and Evolution
Love, Bettina. We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
Melaku, Tsedale. You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism
Morris, Monique. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools
Roberts, Dorothy. Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century
Sewell, Alyasah (formerly Abigail A.). “The Impact of Workplace Isolation, Occupational Stress, and Negative Stereotypes on the Experience and Expression of Anger among Black Workers.”
Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Williams, Apryl, Bryant, Zaida, and Carvell, Christopher. Uncompensated emotional labor, racial battle fatigue, and (in)civility in digital spaces
Restorative Justice
Davis, Fania. 2016. Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline Through Restorative Justice.
Davis, Fania. The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Healing, and US Social Transformation
Ginwright, Shawn. Black Youth Rising: Activism and Radical Healing in Urban America.
Ginwright, Shawn. Radically Healing Black Lives: A Love Note to Justice
Hampton, Robert L, LaTaillade, Jaslean, Dacey, Alicia, and Marghi J.R. Evaluating Domestic Violence Interventions for Black Women
Opie, Tina and Roberts, Laura Morgan. Do black lives really matter in the workplace? Restorative justice as a means to reclaim humanity
Sexual Violence
Buchanan, Nichole and West, Carolyn. “Sexual harassment in the lives of women of color.” Handbook of diversity in feminist psychology
Collins, Patricia Hill. 2005. Black Sexual Politics: African American, Gender, and the New Racism.
Irving, Toni. “Borders of the Body: Black Women, Sexual Assault, and Citizenship”
Donovan, Roxanne, Galban, David, Grace, Ryan, Bennett, Jacqueline, Felicié, Shaina. Impact of Racial Macro- and Microaggressions in Black Women’s Lives: A Preliminary Analysis
Donovan, Roxanne. “To Blame or Not to Blame: Influences of Target Race and Observer Sex on Rape Blame Attribution”
Donovan, Roxanne and Williams, Michelle. Living at the intersection: The effects of racism and sexism on Black rape survivors
James, Adilia. “The Black Girl Body as a Site of Sexual Terrorism.” Wish to Live: The Hip-Hop Feminist Pedagogy Reader
West, Carolyn. “Still on the auction block: The (s)exploitation of Black adolescent girls in rap(e) music and hip hop culture” In The sexualization of childhood
Trauma
Aymer, Samuel. “I can’t breathe”: A case study—Helping Black men cope with race-related trauma stemming from police killing and brutality
Barlow, Jameta. Restoring optimal black mental health and reversing intergenerational trauma in an era of Black Lives Matter
Jenkins, Esther. Black Women and Community Violence: Trauma, Grief, and Coping
Jernigan, Maryam and Henderson Daniel, Jessica. Racial Trauma in the Lives of Black Children and Adolescents: Challenges and Clinical Implications
Motley, Robert and Banks, Andrae. Black Males, Trauma, and Mental Health Service Use: A Systematic Review
Rich, John and Courtney Grey. Pathways to Recurrent Trauma Among Young Black Men: Traumatic Stress, Substance Use, and the “Code of the Street”
Rich, John. Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men
West, Carolyn. “Living in a web of trauma: An ecological examination of violence among African Americans.” The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook on the Psychology of Violence
Violence
Crewnshaw, Kimberlé, Ritchie, Andrea, and Anspach, Rachel. Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women.
Jones, Nikki. Between Good and Ghetto: African American Girls and Inner-City Violence
Jones, Nikki and McCurn, Alexis. “Black Girls, Gender, and Violence” in Understanding Diversity.
Like, Toya and Cobbina, Jennifer. Emotional Girls and Rational Boys: The Gendering of Violence Among African American Youth.
Love, Bettina. Anti-Black state violence, classroom edition: The spirit murdering of Black children.
Potter, Hillary. Battle Cries: Black Women and Intimate Partner Abuse
Ritchie, Andrea. Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color.
Richie, Beth. Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation
Roberts, Dorothy. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty
West, Carolyn. “Hidden in Plain Sight: Structural Inequalities and (In)visible Violence in the Lives of African American Women” in Talking about Structural Inequalities in Everyday Life: New Politics of Race in Groups, Organizations, and Social Systems.
Digital Libraries Curated
By Black Scholars
Scholarly thought on Black liberation is both abundant in volume yet narrow in amplification. The Swan Center is dedicated to using our platform to further make these necessary resources visible. Below is a starting list of other public and expansive digital libraries to support your self-learning. We ask that you pay these wonderful Black creatives for their labor by leaving donations to their causes. Please visit Charles’s page for more info on his preferred digital platforms. Bilphena’s donations can be sent to the following platforms: Cash App: $byahwon Venmo: @bilphen-yahwon Paypal: gold.womyn@gmail.com.
