Vital and brutal snapshots of a life growing up in East Baltimore and a searing indictment of systemic racism, from the pen of poet and writer Kondwani Fidel.

An exploration of DIY comics as a tool for claiming identity and bringing stories of resistance and struggle to life.

A critical and accessible introduction demolishing the most damaging myths about transgender people and their fight for recognition and dignity. Co-sponsored by the Baltimore Transgender Alliance.

An unflinching intersectional look at the violence unleashed on Black and other women of color by a police system built around gendered white supremacy, and a clarion call for that system’s abolition.

A retelling of the history of the Black Panther Party from the perspective of the women in its rank-and-file, centering questions of gender in struggle for Black liberation.

An explosive hour of words in resistance assembled by one of Baltimore’s finest slam poets.

From his iconic and unforgettable photograph of the Baltimore Uprising to his tireless efforts to help Baltimore’s young people develop as photographers, Devin Allen’s work is more and more the lens that Baltimore City sees itself through.  He’ll be joined in conversation by award-winning local author D. Watkins for a celebration of the release of his first photo-book.

Dispatches from the global struggles from below pushing beyond neoliberalism’s impoverished idea of “democracy” and a radical perspective on immigration grounded in the work of solidarity across the border between the US and Mexico.

Agroecologist Eric Holt-Giménez, director of Food First, leads a discussion with local food justice and land access organizers on resilience, resistance, and regeneration.

A vision of parenting for Black America that looks beyond traditions of corporal punishment that replicated and reproduce the traumas and violence outside the home, and towards a vision of positive and nonviolent discipline.

A new critical look at the rapid process of gentrification in DC’s Shaw neighborhood, drawing on an extensive partnership with a grassroots organization fighting on the frontlines against displacement.

In a special Book Festival closing panel, organized and moderated by local feminist author and critic Jordannah Elizabeth, renowned writers and music critics share their perspective on Black music criticism and the ways in which they have been able to succeed in an industry still controlled by white mainstream and alternative media. Presented by Publik / Private.

As long as there has been fascism, there has been anti-fascism — also known as “antifa.” Born out of resistance to Mussolini and Hitler in Europe during the 1920s and ’30s, the antifa movement has suddenly burst into the headlines amidst opposition to the Trump administration and the alt-right. They could be seen in news reports, clad all in black with balaclavas covering their faces, fighting police at the presidential inauguration, and on California college campuses protesting right-wing speakers …

Simply, antifa aims to deny fascists the opportunity to promote their oppressive politics — by any means necessary. Critics say shutting down political adversaries is anti-democratic; antifa adherents argue that the horrors of fascism must never be allowed the slightest chance to triumph again.

In a smart and gripping investigation, historian and former Occupy Wall Street organizer Mark Bray provides a one-of-a-kind look inside the movement, including a detailed survey of its history from its origins to the present day — the first transnational history of postwar anti-fascism in English. Based on interviews with anti-fascists from around the world, Antifa details the tactics of the movement and the philosophy behind it, offering insight into the growing but little understood resistance fighting back against the alt-right.

Huey P. Newton said, "The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution." Yet in 2017, we hear less and less from the voices that matter most! Kids Who Know Everything is a new show that gives a voice to the future leaders and change agents of our world. Join us as we discuss shoot our pilot episode at Red Emma's on September 29th at 6PM. The topic: Don't Save Us! The special guest: Bestselling Author, D. Watkins. The host Valencia D. Clay. The panelists: Teens from Baltimore! 

All are welcome, especially the youth!

When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the black community owned less than one percent of the United States’ total wealth. More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged. The Color of Money pursues the persistence of this racial wealth gap by focusing on the generators of wealth in the black community: black banks. Studying these institutions over time, Mehrsa Baradaran challenges the myth that black communities could ever accumulate wealth in a segregated economy. Instead, housing segregation, racism, and Jim Crow credit policies created an inescapable, but hard to detect, economic trap for black communities and their banks.

Baradaran challenges the long-standing notion that black banking and community self-help is the solution to the racial wealth gap. These initiatives have functioned as a potent political decoy to avoid more fundamental reforms and racial redress. Examining the fruits of past policies and the operation of banking in a segregated economy, she makes clear that only bolder, more realistic views of banking’s relation to black communities will end the cycle of poverty and promote black wealth.

In the 1960s and '70s, a diverse range of storefronts--including head shops, African American bookstores, feminist businesses, and organic grocers--brought the work of the New Left, Black Power, feminism, environmentalism, and other movements into the marketplace. Through shared ownership, limited growth, and democratic workplaces, these activist entrepreneurs offered alternatives to conventional profit-driven corporate business models. By the middle of the 1970s, thousands of these enterprises operated across the United States. Most didn't survive more than a few years, but a new generation of worker-owned businesses and radical storefronts carry on this tradition today.

Local author Joshua Davis uncovers the historical roots of today's interest in social enterprise and fair trade, while also showing how major corporations such as Whole Foods Market have adopted the language--but not the mission--of liberation and social change.

Join Socialist Worker columnist and author of "Socialism... Seriously" Danny Katch for the launch of his new book, Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People.

“The perpetual choice between the corrupt Republican Party or the inept Democratic Party has left millions of people without a real alternative in the contests that are supposed to determine our political representation. With wit and clarity, Katch argues for social movements, political activism, and socialism as the alternatives we need to win the world we want. Get this book!”
—Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation 

Black women have a long history of using humor to fight oppression.  Join the Black Ladies Brunch Collective for a celebration of joy as resistance, and hear poems on sexuality, Prince and Harriet Tubman from our first collection, Not Without Our Laughter.

The Black Ladies Brunch Collective is a group of Black women poets dedicated to building celebratory spaces for us, and by us. Collective members include Saida Agostini, Anya Creightney, Teri Cross Davis,  celeste doaks, Tafisha Edwards, and Katy Richey.

Tommy J. Curry's provocative book The Man-Not is a justification for Black Male Studies. He posits that we should conceptualize the Black male as a victim, oppressed by his sex. The Man-Not, therefore, is a corrective of sorts, offering a concept of Black males that could challenge the existing accounts of Black men and boys desiring the power of white men who oppress them that has been proliferated throughout academic research across disciplines.

Curry argues that Black men struggle with death and suicide, as well as abuse and rape, and their genred existence deserves study and theorization. This book offers intellectual, historical, sociological, and psychological evidence that the analysis of patriarchy offered by mainstream feminism (including Black feminism) does not yet fully understand the role that homoeroticism, sexual violence, and vulnerability play in the deaths and lives of Black males. Curry challenges how we think of and perceive the conditions that actually affect all Black males.