The Lit Review Podcast

From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. ​ In this episode, Page sits down Walter May, her 84 year-old grandfather, to talk about one of his favorite books and how it relates to his own life and beginnings.

First published in 1999, Exile and Pride: Queerness, Disability, and Liberation by Eli Clare is a groundbreaking book in the political realm of disability politics, and essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the intersections of queerness, disability, environmentalism, class, race, and more. The book, written by Eli Clare, a white, disabled, genderqueer activist/writer, uniquely weaves together poetry, memoir, creative nonfiction, and analysis in an effort to ease people into a political disability consciousness. KEY QUESTIONS: What is disability justice? Why does the author use the word ‘exile’ when talking about disability justice? What does ‘exile and pride’ mean? What does the author want readers to take away from this book, especially nondisabled progressive activists? What is the medicalization of disability? Who is ADAPT (Americans Disabled Attendant Programs Today, formerly known as Americans Disabled for Accessible Public Transit)? What does it mean to make an event space “accessible?”

When we think of Mexican communities, we think of Pilsen, Little Village, and in recent years, Albany Park. But who talks about the neighborhood of South Chicago? We chat with powerful Mijente member, immigrants rights activist, baseball mom, and vital member of our Chicago organizing community, Corina Pedraza Palominos! Corina talks about how the book Steel Barrio: The Great Mexican Migration to South Chicago from 1915-1940 by Michael Innis-Jiménez; an interesting topic of Mexican migration as our communities rapidly respond to the recent DACA decision, with Trump threatening deportation for over 800,000 DACAmented people. Steel Barrio is a beautiful documentation of how Mexicans migrated to the U.S. in search of a better life, enduring racist housing laws, police violence, and poor labor conditions. The book argues that the Mexican immigrant and Mexican American men and women who came to South Chicago created physical and imagined community not only to defend against the ever-present social, political, and economic harassment and discrimination, but to grow in a foreign, polluted environment. Tune in to hear Corina give us an important overview of this book, and why it's important for organizers to know our history!

It's episode 24 and we couldn't think of a better person to talk about this book with! In this episode, UMedics organizer and co-founder Martine Caverl, breaks down the essential Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington. As the book details, Black people have been subject to horrific testing, non-consensual surgeries, and shocking mistreatment since slavery; this is a long tradition of anti-blackness perpetuated as "medicine and science." Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on Black people. The book brings together almost two decades of research, revealing the deep roots of America's racialized health inequity, as well as facilitating a greater understanding and appreciation for why so many Black people view researchers and the medical establishment with such distrust.

Despite some audio issues, and the occasional soothing sound of Kofi's fish tank, Episode 23 is here! Pro-tip: Listen to the episode with headphones! Most of us know Stokely Carmichael as the charismatic leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the 1960's and as the person who coined the term "Black Power," but what else was behind the life of Stokely Carmichael, aka Kwame Ture? ​We chatted with Black Lives Matter-Chicago co-founder Kofi Ademola about Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael, a posthumous autobiography that traces Stokely's life from Guinea to the Bronx to the Delta South and then back to Guinea where he passed in 1998.

In his revolutionary book, Amos Wilson explores the root causes of Black-on-Black violence. His main argument is that "the operational existence of Black-on-Black violence in the United States is psychologically and economically mandated by the White American-dominatated status quo. The criminalization of the Black American male is a psychopolitically engineered process designed to maintain the dependency and relative powerlessness" of Black people. Moving beyond calling out the problem, Wilson offers practical and political directions for eradicating this violence. Originally published in 1994, the book is still deeply relevant for today's organizing. In this episode, we sat down with teacher and organizer, Jasmine Adams, to discuss the lessons from this important book. Key Questions: 1. What is at the root of community and interpersonal violence? 2. How is Black-on-Black violence related to White supremacy? 3. What is necessary to stop the cycles of violence? 4. How can organizers, parents, teachers, etc help address violence and build alternative processes for accountability? Guest: Jasmine Adams Hosts: Page May Date: August 14, 2017 Length: 50:27

Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color is a very timely examination of how Black women, Indigenous women, and women of color experience racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement. ​ We were so honored to sit down with our dear friend, researcher, writer, advocate, activist, and organizer, Andrea Ritchie, to talk about her brand new book, Invisible No More, which took her many years to compile. This book is an incredible litany and collection of once invisible stories of struggle, resistance, and survival, and in Andrea's words on this first-of-its-kind collection of stories, she says, "this isn't the end, this is the beginning." Placing stories of individual women—such as Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Dajerria Becton, Monica Jones, and Mya Hall—in the broader context of the twin epidemics of police violence and mass incarceration, this book documents the evolution of movements centering women’s experiences of policing and demands a radical rethinking of our visions of safety—and the means we devote to achieving it. Andrea Ritchie is currently a Researcher-in-Residence in Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Criminalization at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, a former Soros Justice fellow, and co-author of Queer (In)Justice: How LGBT People are Criminalized in the United States.

In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define them. Not wanting to cut anything, we've broken up the interview into five parts. Take your time to listen, but take the time. It is a gift to all engaged in the struggle to build a better world. Books We Discuss Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, This Little Light of Mine, Kay Mills Unbowed, Wangari Maathai, I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva. A Bit More About Dr Fannie Rushing: As a college student, Rushing became a volunteer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began organizing a Friends of SNCC chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was attending. She left school shortly after to become a full-time SNCC staff member. While with SNCC, Rushing taught in the organization's Freedom Schools, originally designed to promote literacy and prepare people to register to vote. She started a residential Freedom School that brought young people from the South to Chicago for six weeks and sent young black students from the North to Georgia. Over the years, she worked with the late social activist Ella Baker to build the Mass Party to bring progressive social change in the United States. During the 1990s, she defended the right of Haiti's democratically elected president, Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to govern after he had been ousted by the military. Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has written on Rushing's mentor, Ella Baker, calls Rushing a heroine of civil rights. "Dr. Rushing has been an exemplary mentor to new generations of students and has organized programs on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the larger movement, which have helped to educate hundreds, if not thousands, about the legacy of the movements of the 1960s and '70s." Now a professor at Benedictine for the better part of the past decade, Rushing teaches courses on the African Diaspora, Latin American history, social-political movements, global studies and the humanities.

In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define them. Not wanting to cut anything, we've broken up the interview into five parts. Take your time to listen, but take the time. It is a gift to all engaged in the struggle to build a better world. Books We Discuss Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, This Little Light of Mine, Kay Mills Unbowed, Wangari Maathai, I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva. A Bit More About Dr Fannie Rushing: As a college student, Rushing became a volunteer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began organizing a Friends of SNCC chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was attending. She left school shortly after to become a full-time SNCC staff member. While with SNCC, Rushing taught in the organization's Freedom Schools, originally designed to promote literacy and prepare people to register to vote. She started a residential Freedom School that brought young people from the South to Chicago for six weeks and sent young black students from the North to Georgia. Over the years, she worked with the late social activist Ella Baker to build the Mass Party to bring progressive social change in the United States. During the 1990s, she defended the right of Haiti's democratically elected president, Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to govern after he had been ousted by the military. Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has written on Rushing's mentor, Ella Baker, calls Rushing a heroine of civil rights. "Dr. Rushing has been an exemplary mentor to new generations of students and has organized programs on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the larger movement, which have helped to educate hundreds, if not thousands, about the legacy of the movements of the 1960s and '70s." Now a professor at Benedictine for the better part of the past decade, Rushing teaches courses on the African Diaspora, Latin American history, social-political movements, global studies and the humanities.

In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define them. Not wanting to cut anything, we've broken up the interview into five parts. Take your time to listen, but take the time. It is a gift to all engaged in the struggle to build a better world. Books We Discuss Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, This Little Light of Mine, Kay Mills Unbowed, Wangari Maathai, I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva. A Bit More About Dr Fannie Rushing: As a college student, Rushing became a volunteer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began organizing a Friends of SNCC chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was attending. She left school shortly after to become a full-time SNCC staff member. While with SNCC, Rushing taught in the organization's Freedom Schools, originally designed to promote literacy and prepare people to register to vote. She started a residential Freedom School that brought young people from the South to Chicago for six weeks and sent young black students from the North to Georgia. Over the years, she worked with the late social activist Ella Baker to build the Mass Party to bring progressive social change in the United States. During the 1990s, she defended the right of Haiti's democratically elected president, Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to govern after he had been ousted by the military. Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has written on Rushing's mentor, Ella Baker, calls Rushing a heroine of civil rights. "Dr. Rushing has been an exemplary mentor to new generations of students and has organized programs on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the larger movement, which have helped to educate hundreds, if not thousands, about the legacy of the movements of the 1960s and '70s." Now a professor at Benedictine for the better part of the past decade, Rushing teaches courses on the African Diaspora, Latin American history, social-political movements, global studies and the humanities.

In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define them. Not wanting to cut anything, we've broken up the interview into five parts. Take your time to listen, but take the time. It is a gift to all engaged in the struggle to build a better world. Books We Discuss Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, This Little Light of Mine, Kay Mills Unbowed, Wangari Maathai, I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva. A Bit More About Dr Fannie Rushing: As a college student, Rushing became a volunteer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began organizing a Friends of SNCC chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was attending. She left school shortly after to become a full-time SNCC staff member. While with SNCC, Rushing taught in the organization's Freedom Schools, originally designed to promote literacy and prepare people to register to vote. She started a residential Freedom School that brought young people from the South to Chicago for six weeks and sent young black students from the North to Georgia. Over the years, she worked with the late social activist Ella Baker to build the Mass Party to bring progressive social change in the United States. During the 1990s, she defended the right of Haiti's democratically elected president, Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to govern after he had been ousted by the military. Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has written on Rushing's mentor, Ella Baker, calls Rushing a heroine of civil rights. "Dr. Rushing has been an exemplary mentor to new generations of students and has organized programs on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the larger movement, which have helped to educate hundreds, if not thousands, about the legacy of the movements of the 1960s and '70s." Now a professor at Benedictine for the better part of the past decade, Rushing teaches courses on the African Diaspora, Latin American history, social-political movements, global studies and the humanities.

7 Books with Fannie Rushing: An Extended conversation In this special episode, we sat down with Chicago's own freedom fighter, Fannie Rushing, for an extended conversation about her organizing experiences and the seven books that have helped define them. Not wanting to cut anything, we've broken up the interview into five parts. Take your time to listen, but take the time. It is a gift to all engaged in the struggle to build a better world. Books We Discuss: Ella Baker & the Black Freedom Movement, Barbara Ransby Capitalism and Slavery, Eric Williams Discourse on Colonialism, Aime Cesaire, This Little Light of Mine, Kay Mills Unbowed, Wangari Maathai I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai Earth Democracy, Vandana Shiva A Bit More About Dr Fannie Rushing: As a college student, Rushing became a volunteer with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and began organizing a Friends of SNCC chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she was attending. She left school shortly after to become a full-time SNCC staff member. While with SNCC, Rushing taught in the organization's Freedom Schools, originally designed to promote literacy and prepare people to register to vote. She started a residential Freedom School that brought young people from the South to Chicago for six weeks and sent young black students from the North to Georgia. Over the years, she worked with the late social activist Ella Baker to build the Mass Party to bring progressive social change in the United States. During the 1990s, she defended the right of Haiti's democratically elected president, Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to govern after he had been ousted by the military. Barbara Ransby, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has written on Rushing's mentor, Ella Baker, calls Rushing a heroine of civil rights. "Dr. Rushing has been an exemplary mentor to new generations of students and has organized programs on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the larger movement, which have helped to educate hundreds, if not thousands, about the legacy of the movements of the 1960s and '70s." Now a professor at Benedictine for the better part of the past decade, Rushing teaches courses on the African Diaspora, Latin American history, social-political movements, global studies and the humanities.

The central question addressed in The Boundaries of Blackness is: Why, when faced with a disease that was threatening significant numbers of Black people, did Black leaders and dominant institutions fail to take action? In her book, Cathy Cohen systematically examines the roles that politics, racism, and marginalization played in limiting the resources allocated to fighting AIDS in Black communities. ​This week, we got the chance to talk directly with Cathy about her research. Tune in to learn more about this history and what it means for our movements. During this time of global insistence that "Black lives matter" it is critical we study the historic "boundaries of Blackness" if we truly desire to transform the world for ALL Black lives to be valued and supported.

We sat down to chat with Hannah Baptiste about adrienne maree brown's newest book: Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Inspired by Octavia Butler's explorations of our human relationship to change, Emergent Strategy is radical self-help, society-help, and planet-help designed to shape the futures we want to live. As brown argues, change is constant. The world is in a continual state of flux. It is a stream of ever-mutating, emergent patterns. Rather than steel ourselves against such change, this book invites us to feel, map, assess, and learn from the swirling patterns around us in order to better understand and influence them as they happen. Check out this episode to learn more about the core principles of emergent strategy and what it means for our movements.

An inspiration to many activists, community organizers, and revolutionaries for decades upon decades and beyond, we paid tribute to Grace Lee Boggs, as her - what would have been - 102nd birthday passed on June 27th. We sat down with Chicago-based activist Sarah Lu to talk about The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the 21st Century, co-written with Scott Kurashige. In this deeply humanistic book, Boggs shows how to create the radical social change we need to confront new realities. Tune in!