Welcome Black Collections, a new archival repository within the Community-Driven Archives Initiative at ASU Library, focused on creating a robust community collection dedicated to documenting the lived experiences of Black people living and thriving in Arizona. As part of the award-winning CDA Initiative established in 2017 with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Black Collections seeks to establish and implement programs and services that will engage, educate and empower Arizona’s Black community to preserve currently silenced narratives and history. Building this infrastructure and relationships with historically marginalized communities takes time and patience, a deep desire and passion to create change and highly trained students, staff and professionals. , Why create Black Collections? “I want Black Collections to be an important collection that the Black community of Phoenix and Arizona are proud of. Everybody deserves to have their stories documented and the ability to see themselves within the archival record. Black Collections is about working with community to preserve Black history and stories in Arizona.” – Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections , Highlighted Collection J. Eugene Grigsby Jr. Documents the work and legacy of artist, educator and mentor of generations of young artists, Dr. Jefferson Eugene Grigsby, Jr. Visit the finding aid for the J. Eugene Grigsby Jr. Papers   , LIFT Initiative elevates Black Collections Black Collections was created as part of ASU’s LIFT (Listen, Invest, Facilitate, Teach) Initiative. In the fall of 2020, President Crow’s office shared a list of 25 actions to support Black students, faculty and staff. On point 23, the action reads, “ASU has committed to providing funding to sustain the Community-Driven Archives initiative in the ASU Library in order to enhance the historical record of and the university’s and library’s engagement with underrepresented communities.” You can help CDA and Black Collections recover ASU’s Black history to reflect the scholarship and academic accomplishments of the Black community. Make a gift today. , Information Access the collection Materials in this collection can be viewed by appointment in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138). Please make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or call 480-965-4932 for more information. Questions? Ask an Archivist Jessica Salow Assistant Archivist of Black Collections jessica.salow@asu.edu , Resources Black Collections Symposium LibGuide Arizona Archives Online ASU Digital Repository ASU Distinctive Collections Policies Camera Use Agreement Using our collections in publications Connect with us Follow Community-Driven Archives on social media!     , News and blog More news Department of English celebrates 125th anniversary with special events, including a history exhibit Read more about the "Department of English celebrates 125th anniversary with special events, including a history exhibit" article Local athletes get crash course on Black history in Arizona Read more about the "Local athletes get crash course on Black history in Arizona" article ASU Library collection captures robust history of Arizona Read more about the "ASU Library collection captures robust history of Arizona" article University Archives chronicles more than 140 years of Sun Devil history Read more about the "University Archives chronicles more than 140 years of Sun Devil history" article , ASU Events

An Associated Press analysis finds that the number of Black students enrolling at many elite colleges has dropped in the two years since the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in admissions.

Beverly Daniel Tatum on antisemitism, ‘the hardest in the US’, and DEI as the White House targets higher education

In September 2025, John Roberts Jr. will mark the 20th anniversary of his confirmation as Chief Justice of the United States. Roberts and his conservative colleagues on the court thus far have etched legacies in a number of areas of the law, but only one has major implications for democracy’s future.

Writing that it “wants out of this abhorrent system of racial discrimination,” Louisiana on Wednesday told the Supreme Court in the case of Louisiana v. Callais to leave in place […]

The move comes after Ivy League universities Columbia and Brown struck settlements that require them to release information about applicants’ race.

"Sarah Lewis deciphers the hugely popular nineteenth-century images that failed to dislodge Americans' faith in the mythical white homeland of the Caucasus. Actual Caucasians little resemble race science's ideals of whiteness, so Americans learned to manipulate their visual regime-and visual media-to suppress evidence of race's incoherence."--;"In a masterpiece of historical detective work, Sarah Lewis exposes one of the most damaging lies in American history. There was a time when Americans were confronted with the fictions shoring up the nation's racial regime and learned to disregard them. The true significance of this hidden history has gone unseen--until now. The surprising catalyst occurred in the nineteenth century when the Caucasian War--the fight for independence in the Caucasus that coincided with the end of the US Civil War--revealed the instability of the entire regime of racial domination. Images of the Caucasus region and peoples captivated the American public but also showed that the place from which we derive 'Caucasian' for whiteness was not white at all. Cultural and political figures ranging from P. T. Barnum to Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois to Woodrow Wilson recognized these fictions and more, exploiting, unmasking, critiquing, or burying them. To acknowledge the falsehood at the core of racial order proved unthinkable, especially as Jim Crow and segregation took hold. Sight became a form of racial sculpture, vision a knife excising what no longer served the stability of racial hierarchy. That stability was shaped, crucially, by what was left out, what we have been conditioned not to see. Groundbreaking and profoundly resonant, The Unseen Truth shows how visual tactics have long secured our regime of racial hierarchy in spite of its false foundations--and offers a way to begin to dismantle it." --

A new policy in Hennepin County, Minnesota, that allows prosecutors to consider racial identity in plea deals has led to a probe by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Racist covenants once impacted where minority families in Tucson could live.

This semester, 12 clinical law students, representing six law schools, participated in our Spring 2024 Movement Lawyering Clinical Cohort. Through the work in the cohort, their skills were used to advance the campaigns of four of our beloved movement partners. The cohort's reach extended from the Northeast to the Midwest and down to the South, showcasing the broad impact of our collective work. The students' work and research shared the common theme of "Ending Criminalization and Building Thriving Black Communities Our Way."

"Coates originally set off to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell's classic Politics and the English Language, but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories -- our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking -- expose and distort our realities. The first of the book's three intertwining essays is set in Dakar, Senegal. Despite being raised as a strict Afrocentrist -- and named for Nubian pharaoh -- Coates had never set foot on the African continent until now. He roams the "steampunk" city of "old traditions and new machinery," meeting with strangers and dining with local writers who quiz him in French about African American politics. But everywhere he goes he feels as if he's in two places at once: a modern city in Senegal and a mythic kingdom in his mind, the pan-African homeland he was raised to believe was the origin and destiny for all black people. Finally he travels to the slave castles off the coast and touches the ocean that carried his ancestors away in chains -- and has his own reckoning with the legacy of the Afrocentric dream. Back in the USA he takes readers along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he explores a different mythology, this one enforced on its subjects by the state. He enters the world of the teacher whose job is threatened for teaching one of Coates's own books and discovers a community of mostly white supporters who were transformed and even radicalized by the stories they discovered in the "racial reckoning" of 2020. But he also explores the backlash to this reckoning and the deeper myths and stories of the community -- a capital of the confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over its public squares. In Palestine, the longest of the essays, he discovers the devastating gap between the narratives we've accepted and the clashing reality of life on the ground. He meets with activists and dissidents, Israelis and Palestinians -- the old, who remember their dispossessions on two continents, and the young who have only known struggle and disillusionment. He travels into Jerusalem, the heart of Zionist mythology, and to the occupied territories, where he sees the reality the myth is meant to hide. It is this hidden story that draws him in and profoundly changes him -- and makes the war that would soon come all the more devastating"--

"An illustrated edition of The 1619 Project, with newly commissioned artwork and archival images, The New York Times Magazine's award-winning reframing of the American founding and its contemporary echoes, placing slavery and resistance at the center of the American story. Here, in these pages, Black art provides refuge. The marriage of beautiful, haunting and profound words and imagery creates an experience for the reader, a wanting to reflect, to sit in both the discomfort and the joy, to contemplate what a nation owes a people who have contributed so much and yet received so little, and maybe even, to act. --Nikole Hannah-Jones, from the Preface. Curated by the editors of The New York Times Magazine, led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, this illustrated edition of The 1619 Project features seven chapters from the original book that lend themselves to beautiful, engaging visuals, deepening the experience of the content. The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience offers the same revolutionary idea as the original book, an argument for a new national origin story that begins in late August of 1619, when a cargo ship of enslaved people from Africa arrived on the shores of Jamestown, Virginia. Only by reckoning with this difficult history and understanding its powerful influence on our present can we prepare ourselves for a more just future. Filled with original art by thirteen Black artists like Carrie Mae Weems, Calida Rawles, Vitus Shell, Xaviera Simmons, on the themes of resistance and freedom, a brand-new photo essay about slave auction sites, vivid photos of Black Americans celebrating their own forms of patriotism, and a collection of archival images of Black families by Black photographers, this gorgeous volume offers readers a dynamic new way of experiencing the impact of The 1619 Project. Complete with many of the powerful essays and vignettes from the original edition, written by some of the most brilliant journalists, scholars, and thinkers of our time, The 1619 Project: A Visual Experience brings to life a fuller, more comprehensive understanding of American history and culture"--

Tracking anti-CRT efforts introduced at the local, state, and federal levels.

By Cara Moore Lebonick | National Archives News ST. LOUIS, November 4, 2024 — On the 100-year anniversary of race riots erupting in the predominantly Black-populated and affluent Greenwood District

Candice Hammons' journey and the plight of her ancestors will become an exhibit by the African American Museum of Southern Arizona on October 17

"An intelligent machine built to study methods of social warfare struggles to understand and communicate the lived experience of race In a narrative full of social significance and poetically decorated with monks, vampires, and mythical statistics, Race in the Machine presents a world where the stories we use to explain race all simultaneously exist, within and around us, dictating our interactions and innermost beliefs. The nameless protagonist, an enigmatic social mechanic at Nearbay Institute, living in a population of socially connected intelligent machines, encounters a simple query in the context of an introductory lecture: "What exactly is race? And what is it in the context of the social machine?" This prompt guides the protagonist along a twisting intellectual tale surrounding a series of experiments which explore: How many racists does it take to create systems of inequality? What role do non-racists actors play in upholding them? How is bias learned? How does it spread? The narrator develops a distinct understanding of race through the figurative bending of time, dreams of a "race code" and by confronting a series of mysterious communications that remain just outside comprehension. Over the course of this journey, the answers to important questions about racial inequality quietly emerge for the protagonist. Scholarly encounters with both antagonistic colleagues and unexpected allies, culminate when the hero is forced to reach a devastating conclusion about themselves and the world. Stirring and luminous, Race in the Machine deftly oscillates between the allegorically simplified and the impossibly complex to weave an utterly unique and nuanced portrait of race in the modern world"--

"In 1989, Ben Spencer was convicted of murdering businessman Jeffrey Young-a crime he didn't commit. Spencer to spent more than half his life in prison until independent investigators, the foreman of the jury that convicted him, and a new district attorney convinced a judge that Spencer had nothing to do with the killing. He was released from prison in 2022. Journalist Barbara Bradley Hagerty spent years immersed in Spencer's case. She combed police files and court records, interviewed dozens of witnesses, and had extensive conversations with Spencer. In Bringing Ben Home, she weaves together two narratives: how an innocent Black man got caught up in and couldn't escape a legal system that refused to admit its mistakes; and what Texas and other states are doing to address wrongful convictions to make the legal process more equitable for everyone"--

"This radical work by one of the leading young scholars of Black thought delineates a new concept of Black dignity, yet one with a long history in Black writing and action. Previously in the West, dignity has been seen in two ways: as something inherent in one's station in life, whether acquired or conferred by birth; or more recently as an essential condition and right common to all of humanity. In what might be called a work of observational philosophy--an effort to describe the philosophy underlying the Black Lives Matter movement--Vincent W. Lloyd defines dignity as something performative, not an essential quality but an action: struggle against domination. Without struggle, there is no dignity. He defines anti-Blackness as an inescapable condition of American life, and the slave's struggle against the master as the "primal scene" of domination and resistance. Exploring the way Black writers such as Frederick Douglass, Langston Hughes, and Audre Lorde have dealt with themes such as Black rage, Black love, and Black magic, Lloyd posits that Black dignity is the paradigm of all dignity and, more audaciously, that Black philosophy is the starting point of all philosophy."--

Eliminating the terms “race and ethnicity” from the American Bar Association’s law school accreditation rules will hobble longstanding efforts to bring in diverse students and faculty, critics warned in public comments on the proposal.

"From 'Assimilation' to 'Decolonization,' 'Black Wall Street' to 'Police Brutality,' and 'Colorism' to 'White Supremacy,' this book equips you with the language to engage in crucial conversations around anti-Black racism. The Anti-Racist Vocab Guide is a boldly illustrated visual glossary that distills complex subjects into comprehensive yet accessible definitions of terms and provides concise and insightful explanations of historical moments. With reflection questions to use for introspection or as a starting point for hard conversations with those close to you, this book will encourage both your learning and unlearning--no matter where you are in your journey to understanding race in America"--

Various Tucson neighborhoods have rules saying non-white people can’t live there and one Midtown neighborhood association is getting rid of their rules.

Agents of change: Community efforts to overcome racial inequities is an editorial series created in collaboration with Report for America, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, that highlights how local initiatives address racial inequalities through grassroots approaches.

"Robin Bernstein relates a bloody tale of race, murder, and injustice that forces us to rethink the origins and consequences of America's immoral system of prisons for profit. Bernstein brings to life the story of William Freeman, a free Black man who in 1840 was forced into unpaid labor as an inmate of Auburn State Prison in New York. After his release, he murdered four members of a white family, as revenge for the theft of his labor. His trial saw the crystallization of a nefarious ideology-the idea that African Americans are inherently criminal-yet it also shaped Auburn as an important node in the long battle for Black freedom"--

Antiracism workshops and diversity policies have long been the response to racial tensions and incidents in corporations, schools, and nonprofit organizations. There is little evidence, however, that they create employment equity, reduce racial prejudice, or increase cross-cultural sensitivity. Sociologist Sarita Srivastava argues they often create more division and acrimony than progress. "Are You Calling Me a Racist?" reveals why these efforts have failed to effectively challenge racism and offers a new way forward. Drawing from her own experience as an educator and activist, as well as extensive interviews and analyses of contemporary events, Srivastava shows that racial encounters among well-meaning people are ironically hindered by the emotional investment they have in being seen as good people. Diversity workshops devote energy to defending, recuperating, educating, and inwardly reflecting, with limited results, and these exercises often make things worse. These "feel-good politics of race," Srivastava explains, train our focus on the therapeutic and educational, rather than on concrete practices that could move us toward true racial equity. In this type of approach to diversity training, people are more concerned about being called a racist than they are about changing racist behavior. "Are You Calling Me a Racist?" is a much-needed challenge to the status quo of diversity training, and will serve as a valuable resource for anyone dedicated to dismantling racism in their communities, educational institutions, public or private organizations, and social movements

This book examines how the law influences our most personal and private choices-who we desire and choose as intimate partners-and explores the psychological, economic, and social effects of these choices. It proposes ways to minimize law's influence over who we desire, love, and bring into our families, including changes to dating platforms, as well as housing, education, and transportation policies

A law professor examines four Supreme Court cases won by a trailblazing Kentucky-born lawyer dedicated to seeking just treatment for those condemned to death.

Explores how violence differentially affects people according to their class, sexuality, nationality and ethnicity. These invisible workings of overlapping power relations give rise to what she terms 'lethal intersections', where multiple forms of oppression converge to catalyze a set of violent practices that fall more heavily on particular groups. Drawing on a rich tapestry of cases from investigative journalism, feature films, documentaries and fiction, Collins challenges readers to reflect upon what counts as violence today and what can be done about it. Resisting violence offers a common thread that weaves together disparate anti-violence projects across the world. When parents of murdered children organize against gun violence, when Black citizens march against the excessive use of police force in their neighborhoods, and when women and girls report sexual abuse by employers, coaches, and community leaders, the ideas and actions of ordinary people lay a foundation for new ways of thinking about and combating violence. This volume aims to stimulate debate about violence as one of the most pressing social problems of our times. --From publisher's description.

Lloyd Lionel Gaines applied to the University of Missouri School of Law in 1936. Despite an outstanding scholastic record, Gaines was denied admission based solely on the grounds that Missouri’s Constitution called for “separate education of the races.” Because Missouri had no public law school that admitted Black applications, state law required the state to pay Gaines’ tuition at public universities in Iowa, Kansas or Nebraska. Attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) identified Gaines’ case as a good vehicle to begin the incremental process of challenging the ignominious precedent of “separate but equal” established in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Together, they sued the University of Missouri seeking an order granting him admission to its Law School.

"Our Hidden Conversations is a unique compilation of stories, richly reported essays, and photographs providing a window into America during a tumultuous era. This powerful book offers an honest, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race and identity, permitting us to eavesdrop on deep-seated thoughts, private discussions, and long submerged memories."--