The Best Social Activists Biographies & Memoirs 2024

1. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned -

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

2. I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - From a powerful new voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female in middle-class white America. Austin Channing Brown's first encounter with a racialized America came at age 7, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools, organizations, and churches, Austin writes, I had to learn what it means to love blackness, a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America's racial divide as a writer, speaker and expert who helps organizations practice genuine inclusion. In a time when nearly all institutions (schools, churches, universities, businesses) claim to value diversity in their mission statements, I'm Still Here is a powerful account of how and why our actions so often fall short of our words. Austin writes in breathtaking detail about her journey to self-worth and the pitfalls that kill our attempts at racial justice, in stories that bear witness to the complexity of America's social fabric--from Black Cleveland neighborhoods to private schools in the middle-class suburbs, from prison walls to the boardrooms at majority-white organizations. For readers who have engaged with America's legacy on race through the writing of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Michael Eric Dyson, I'm Still Here is an illuminating look at how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all.

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

3. Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - An inspiring personal story of redemption, second chances, and the transformative power within us all, from the founder and CEO of the nonprofit charity: water. At 28 years old, Scott Harrison had it all. A top nightclub promoter in New York City, his life was an endless cycle of drugs, booze, models--repeat. But 10 years in, desperately unhappy and morally bankrupt, he asked himself, What would the exact opposite of my life look like? Walking away from everything, Harrison spent the next 16 months on a hospital ship in West Africa and discovered his true calling. In 2006, with no money and less than no experience, Harrison founded charity: water. Today, his organization has raised over $400 million to bring clean drinking water to more than 10 million people around the globe. In Thirst, Harrison recounts the twists and turns that built charity: water into one of the most trusted and admired nonprofits in the world. Renowned for its 100% donation model, bold storytelling, imaginative branding, and radical commitment to transparency, charity: water has disrupted how social entrepreneurs work while inspiring millions of people to join its mission of bringing clean water to everyone on the planet within our lifetime. In the tradition of such bestselling books as Shoe Dog and Mountains Beyond Mountains, Thirst is a riveting account of how to build a better charity, a better business, a better life--and a gritty tale that proves it's never too late to make a change. 100% of the author's net proceeds from Thirst will go to fund charity: water projects around the world.

Thirst: A Story of Redemption, Compassion, and a Mission to Bring Clean Water to the World, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

4. Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - Winner of the 2018 National Council on Crime & Delinquency's Media for a Just Society Awards Winner of the 49th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Biography/Autobiography) Winner of the 2017 Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice Valuable . . . like Michelle] Alexander's The New Jim Crow.--Los Angeles Review of Books Susan Burton is a national treasure . . . her life story is testimony to the human capacity for resilience and recovery . . . Becoming Ms. Burton is] a stunning memoir.--Nicholas Kristof, in The New York Times One woman's remarkable odyssey from tragedy to prison to recovery--and recognition as a leading figure in the national justice reform movementSusan Burton's world changed in an instant when her five-year-old son was killed by a van driving down their street. Consumed by grief and without access to professional help, Susan self-medicated, becoming addicted first to cocaine, then crack. As a resident of South Los Angeles, a black community under siege in the War on Drugs, it was but a matter of time before Susan was arrested. She cycled in and out of prison for over fifteen years; never was she offered therapy or treatment for addiction. On her own, she eventually found a private drug rehabilitation facility. Once clean, Susan dedicated her life to supporting women facing similar struggles. Her organization, A New Way of Life, operates five safe homes in Los Angeles that supply a lifeline to hundreds of formerly incarcerated women and their children--setting them on the track to education and employment rather than returns to prison. Becoming Ms. Burton not only humanizes the deleterious impact of mass incarceration, it also points the way to the kind of structural and policy changes that will offer formerly incarcerated people the possibility of a life of meaning and dignity.

Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

5. Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the powerful story of how a prominent white supremacist changed his heart and mind. This is a book to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another. Derek Black grew up at the epicenter of white nationalism. His father founded Stormfront, the largest racist community on the Internet. His godfather, David Duke, was a KKK Grand Wizard. By the time Derek turned nineteen, he had become an elected politician with his own daily radio show--already regarded as the the leading light of the burgeoning white nationalist movement. We can infiltrate, Derek once told a crowd of white nationalists. We can take the country back. Then he went to college. At New College of Florida, he continued to broadcast his radio show in secret each morning, living a double life until a classmate uncovered his identity and sent an email to the entire school. Derek Black ... white supremacist, radio host ... New College student The ensuing uproar overtook one of the most liberal colleges in the country. Some students protested Derek's presence on campus, forcing him to reconcile for the first time with the ugliness of his beliefs. Other students found the courage to reach out to him, including an Orthodox Jew who invited Derek to attend weekly Shabbat dinners. It was because of those dinners--and the wide-ranging relationships formed at that table--that Derek started to question the science, history, and prejudices behind his worldview. As white nationalism infiltrated the political mainstream, Derek decided to confront the damage he had done. Rising Out of Hatred tells the story of how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek Black's story can tell us about America's increasingly divided nature.

Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

6. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was one of the foremost crusaders against black oppression. This engaging memoir tells of her private life as mother of a growing family as well as her public activities as teacher, lecturer, and journalist in her fight against attitudes and laws oppressing blacks. No student of black history should overlook Crusade for Justice.--William M. Tuttle, Jr., Journal of American History Besides being the story of an incredibly courageous and outspoken black woman in the face of innumerable odds, the book is a valuable contribution to the social history of the United States and to the literature of the women's movement as well.--Elizabeth Kolmer, American Quarterly Wells was] a sophisticated fighter whose prose was as thorough as her intellect.--Walter Goodman, New York Times An illuminating narrative of a zealous, race-conscious, civic- and church-minded black woman reformer, whose life story is a significant chapter in the history of Negro-White relations.--Thelma D. Perry, Negro History Bulletin

Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

7. Truth is Our Only Sword, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - A finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and longlisted for the National Book Award, The Firebrand and the First Lady is the riveting history, two decades in the making, of how a brilliant writer-turned-activist and the first lady of the United States forged an enduring friendship that helped to alter the course of race and racism in America. In 1938, the twenty-eight-year-old Pauli Murray wrote a letter to the President and First Lady, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, protesting racial segregation in the South. Eleanor wrote back. So began a friendship that would last for a quarter of a century, as Pauli became a lawyer, principal strategist in the fight to protect Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and a co-founder of the National Organization of Women, and Eleanor became a diplomat and first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Lillian Smith Book Award Finalist Georgia Author of the Year Nominated Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award

Truth is Our Only Sword, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

8. The Portable Frederick Douglass, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

Pre-Owned - A new collection of the seminal writings and speeches of a legendary writer, orator, and civil rights leader This compact volume offers a full course on the remarkable, diverse career of Frederick Douglass, letting us hear once more a necessary historical figure whose guiding voice is needed now as urgently as ever. Edited by renowned scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Pulitzer Prize-nominated historian John Stauffer, The Portable Frederick Douglass includes the full range of Douglass's works: the complete Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, as well as extracts from My Bondage and My Freedom and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass; The Heroic Slave, one of the first works of African American fiction; the brilliant speeches that launched his political career and that constitute the greatest oratory of the Civil War era; and his journalism, which ranges from cultural and political critique (including his early support for women's equality) to law, history, philosophy, literature, art, and international affairs, including a never-before-published essay on Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture. The Portable Frederick Douglass is the latest addition in a series of African American classics curated by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. First published in 2008, the series reflects a selection of great works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by African and African American authors introduced and annotated by leading scholars and acclaimed writers in new or updated editions for Penguin Classics. In his series essay, What Is an African American Classic? Gates provides a broader view of the canon of classics of African American literature available from Penguin Classics and beyond. Gates writes, These texts reveal the human universal through the African American particular: all true art, all classics do this; this is what 'art' is, a revelation of that which makes each of us sublimely human, rendered in the minute details of the actions and thoughts and feelings of a compelling character embedded in a time and place. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Portable Frederick Douglass, Pre-Owned (Paperback)

9. Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - A sharp and timely exploration of race, online activism, and real communication in the age of social media rants, trolls, and call-out wars, from veteran video blogger and star of MTV's Decoded Franchesca Ramsey. Franchesca Ramsey didn't set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race, and culture, really. But then her YouTube video What White Girls Say . . . to Black Girls went viral. Twelve million views viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters, and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage. In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other--from the highs of bridging gaps and making connections to the many pitfalls that accompany talking about race, power, sexuality, and gender in an unpredictable public space...the internet. Well, that Escalated Quickly includes Ramsey's advice on dealing with internet trolls and low-key racists, confessions about being a former online hater herself, and her personal hits and misses in activist debates with everyone from bigoted Facebook friends and misguided relatives to mainstream celebrities and YouTube influencers. With sharp humor and her trademark candor, Ramsey shows readers we can have tough conversations that move the dialogue forward, rather than backward, if we just approach them in the right way.

Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

10. No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Founder of the Grey Panthers. A group championing the role of the elderly as never before.

No Stone Unturned: The Life and Times of Maggie Kuhn, Used [Hardcover]