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We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement
"Ranging from Reconstruction to the Black Power period, this thoroughly and creatively researched book effectively challenges long-held beliefs about the Black Freedom Struggle. It should make it abundantly clear that the violence/nonviolence dichotomy is too simple to capture the thinking of Black Southerners about the forms of effective resistance."—Charles M. Payne, University of Chicago
The notion that the civil rights movement in the southern United States was a nonviolent movement remains a dominant theme of civil rights memory and representation in popular culture. Yet in dozens of southern communities, Black people picked up arms to defend their leaders, communities, and lives. In particular, Black people relied on armed self-defense in communities where federal government officials failed to safeguard activists and supporters from the violence of racists and segregationists, who were often supported by local law enforcement.
In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the efficacy of the southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in Mississippi and most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. Armed self-defense was a major tool of survival in allowing some Black southern communities to maintain their integrity and existence in the face of White supremacist terror. By 1965, armed resistance, particularly self-defense, was a significant factor in the challenge of the descendants of enslaved Africans to overturning fear and intimidation and developing different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians.
This riveting historical narrative relies upon oral history, archival material, and scholarly literature to reconstruct the use of armed resistance by Black activists and supporters in Mississippi to challenge racist terrorism, segregation, and fight for human rights and political empowerment from the early 1950s through the late 1970s.
Akinyele Omowale Umoja is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University, where he teaches courses on the history of the Civil Rights, Black Power, and other social movements.
The notion that the civil rights movement in the southern United States was a nonviolent movement remains a dominant theme of civil rights memory and representation in popular culture. Yet in dozens of southern communities, Black people picked up arms to defend their leaders, communities, and lives. In particular, Black people relied on armed self-defense in communities where federal government officials failed to safeguard activists and supporters from the violence of racists and segregationists, who were often supported by local law enforcement.
In We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement, Akinyele Omowale Umoja argues that armed resistance was critical to the efficacy of the southern freedom struggle and the dismantling of segregation and Black disenfranchisement. Intimidation and fear were central to the system of oppression in Mississippi and most of the Deep South. To overcome the system of segregation, Black people had to overcome fear to present a significant challenge to White domination. Armed self-defense was a major tool of survival in allowing some Black southern communities to maintain their integrity and existence in the face of White supremacist terror. By 1965, armed resistance, particularly self-defense, was a significant factor in the challenge of the descendants of enslaved Africans to overturning fear and intimidation and developing different political and social relationships between Black and White Mississippians.
This riveting historical narrative relies upon oral history, archival material, and scholarly literature to reconstruct the use of armed resistance by Black activists and supporters in Mississippi to challenge racist terrorism, segregation, and fight for human rights and political empowerment from the early 1950s through the late 1970s.
Akinyele Omowale Umoja is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University, where he teaches courses on the history of the Civil Rights, Black Power, and other social movements.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 22, 2013
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December 27, 2019
Another wonderful example of the relatively recent surge of historiography dedicated to dispelling the notion that the nonviolence and pacifism championed by mainstream civil rights movement leaders were the predominant strategy and philosophy of the African-American freedom struggle during the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and revealing the vital role played by armed defense and armed resistance. (Others include Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power by Timothy B. Tyson, The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement by Lance Hill, and This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible by Charles E. Cobb Jr.) Groups like SNCC and CORE and campaigns like the Mississippi Freedom Summer (1964) would not have been successful if it hadn't been for local folks providing armed defense for movement leaders and organizers. In the years following, the Deacons for Defense and Justice played a major role in Mississippi as well as Louisiana and Alabama, but many other organizations and individuals made substantial contributions, such as the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Africa (PGRNA) and the Black Liberation Army (BLA), plus homegrown organizations like the Black United Front (BUF) and the United League (UL). You'll also learn about many lesser-known figures in the movement, such as boycott wizard Rudy Shields and his use of "enforcers" to deal with boycott violators. We Will Shoot Back is a must read and, along with the other titles I cited above, a vital corrective to the safe, one-sided view of the civil rights movement promoted by mainstream historians.
January 17, 2022
This review isn't pithy. I want to document and remember what I learned from this read. And in no way does this review do the material justice.
Umoja sets out to make a very specific academic argument in this work -- that Black armed self-defense post-1960s played a necessary role in the safety of Black people in Mississippi. In the most rigorous of academic styles, he is very quick to define where the intellectual tradition he is writing in ends and where his own unique contribution begins. It is a modest and compelling style that gives intellectual credit where intellectual credit is due. And yet, as someone who has not read the volumes on volumes that Umoja cites, I find that Umoja's work contributes so much more than the measured extension of his field that he takes credit for. While a rigorous work of history, his writing style and narrative transform this work from a record of facts into an accessible and well-communicated story. I'd stand in praise of this work even if the only contribution it set out to make was its synthesis and translation of other scholars and sources into the public sphere. Despite citations littering the pages, the story-telling is just that good.
Other compelling arguments that, while he doesn't take explicit intellectual credit for devising, Umoja makes in the work include:
- The success, and in fact survival, of nonviolent civil rights activists in Mississippi was enabled only through the contributions of independent, armed Black men and women.
- Armed self-defense in Mississippi was as much about the messaging -- we will shoot back -- as it was about the instances of Blacks utilizing force.
- Federal assistance, even when explicitly requested by embattled Black activists, was never sufficient and rarely timely.
- The forces of White Supremacy during all time periods documented in the work (1940-1985) were intentional, overt, entrenched in government, and violent. The presence of armed Blacks was the only difference between life and death for many individuals. Living with that precarity is both physically and psychologically traumatic.
- Know their names. Black Civil Rights activists were not a monolith. The stories of Mississippi's local heroes and the nuances of their thoughts are not encapsulated in any number of quotable and instagram-able MLK speeches (nor are the nuances of MLK's thoughts and the evolution of his thought throughout his life, but that's not an argument of this book).
- Actions taken by the federal government that advanced civil rights appear to be more pragmatic (only enough to maintain power/credence in light of public opinion) then motivated by a humanitarian care for civil rights. Unchallenged state actions like anti-boycott laws in Mississippi that were used as late as 1976 to force the NAACP to pay $1.5Mil for damages to white corporations' profits (contextualize this against the uncountable $$ of stolen labor of enslaved individuals) is the epitome of reinforcing racist structures of power.
Places my mind went while reading this book (so that I remember):
- The moral superiority of non-violence and moderates' use of Black armed self-defense as an excuse to dismiss the Black Freedom Struggle by labelling certain actors as "Bad-Blacks" implicitly gives a pass to white supremacist violence. In the court of public opinion, Black individuals where not only not allowed rights, they weren't allowed basic emotions like a desire to protect their families.
- Set against WW2, the above statement is even more concerning. In 1945, the US committed the ultimate act of "we will shoot back" - dropping the atomic bomb to kill predominantly innocent civilian Japanese. That the same white moderate individuals who justified that act with an argument of "violence to prevent even greater violence" would turn the court of public opinion against any Black who merely possessed a gun as a deterrent is a damning exposition of the hypocrisy of White Supremacy. I do not want to forget this.
- The Freedom (Mississippi) Summer project, which brought young, privileged, white, college students to help register Blacks to vote in Mississippi represents an activist philosophy of borrowing privilege to shield individuals of less privilege. In contrast, Blacks who armed themselves during this project were practicing an ethic of growing their own power.
- Overall, while I might still aspire to a personal ethic of non-violence, I need to do some serious thinking about ways in which expectations of non-violence and censoring of others' activism reinforce White Supremacy by failing to understand the realities of how White Supremacy threatens peoples' very existence.
Umoja sets out to make a very specific academic argument in this work -- that Black armed self-defense post-1960s played a necessary role in the safety of Black people in Mississippi. In the most rigorous of academic styles, he is very quick to define where the intellectual tradition he is writing in ends and where his own unique contribution begins. It is a modest and compelling style that gives intellectual credit where intellectual credit is due. And yet, as someone who has not read the volumes on volumes that Umoja cites, I find that Umoja's work contributes so much more than the measured extension of his field that he takes credit for. While a rigorous work of history, his writing style and narrative transform this work from a record of facts into an accessible and well-communicated story. I'd stand in praise of this work even if the only contribution it set out to make was its synthesis and translation of other scholars and sources into the public sphere. Despite citations littering the pages, the story-telling is just that good.
Other compelling arguments that, while he doesn't take explicit intellectual credit for devising, Umoja makes in the work include:
- The success, and in fact survival, of nonviolent civil rights activists in Mississippi was enabled only through the contributions of independent, armed Black men and women.
- Armed self-defense in Mississippi was as much about the messaging -- we will shoot back -- as it was about the instances of Blacks utilizing force.
- Federal assistance, even when explicitly requested by embattled Black activists, was never sufficient and rarely timely.
- The forces of White Supremacy during all time periods documented in the work (1940-1985) were intentional, overt, entrenched in government, and violent. The presence of armed Blacks was the only difference between life and death for many individuals. Living with that precarity is both physically and psychologically traumatic.
- Know their names. Black Civil Rights activists were not a monolith. The stories of Mississippi's local heroes and the nuances of their thoughts are not encapsulated in any number of quotable and instagram-able MLK speeches (nor are the nuances of MLK's thoughts and the evolution of his thought throughout his life, but that's not an argument of this book).
- Actions taken by the federal government that advanced civil rights appear to be more pragmatic (only enough to maintain power/credence in light of public opinion) then motivated by a humanitarian care for civil rights. Unchallenged state actions like anti-boycott laws in Mississippi that were used as late as 1976 to force the NAACP to pay $1.5Mil for damages to white corporations' profits (contextualize this against the uncountable $$ of stolen labor of enslaved individuals) is the epitome of reinforcing racist structures of power.
Places my mind went while reading this book (so that I remember):
- The moral superiority of non-violence and moderates' use of Black armed self-defense as an excuse to dismiss the Black Freedom Struggle by labelling certain actors as "Bad-Blacks" implicitly gives a pass to white supremacist violence. In the court of public opinion, Black individuals where not only not allowed rights, they weren't allowed basic emotions like a desire to protect their families.
- Set against WW2, the above statement is even more concerning. In 1945, the US committed the ultimate act of "we will shoot back" - dropping the atomic bomb to kill predominantly innocent civilian Japanese. That the same white moderate individuals who justified that act with an argument of "violence to prevent even greater violence" would turn the court of public opinion against any Black who merely possessed a gun as a deterrent is a damning exposition of the hypocrisy of White Supremacy. I do not want to forget this.
- The Freedom (Mississippi) Summer project, which brought young, privileged, white, college students to help register Blacks to vote in Mississippi represents an activist philosophy of borrowing privilege to shield individuals of less privilege. In contrast, Blacks who armed themselves during this project were practicing an ethic of growing their own power.
- Overall, while I might still aspire to a personal ethic of non-violence, I need to do some serious thinking about ways in which expectations of non-violence and censoring of others' activism reinforce White Supremacy by failing to understand the realities of how White Supremacy threatens peoples' very existence.
August 30, 2022
This is a story about “Bad Negroes.” The Black men and women from Mississippi—one of the most violently anti-Black places in 20th Century America—who committed themselves and their communities to organized collective armed resistance in the face of unceasing white terror. As author Akinyele Umoja explains, Black armed resistance (characterized by collective self-defense, retaliatory violence, and “armed struggle”) was not only necessary to keep Black people in Mississippi alive, it was paramount to ensuring the success of organized political movements against Jim Crow.
“We Will Shoot Back” makes abundantly clear that the “traditional” tactic of non-violent self-defense went hand-in-hand with the desire for integration, as it relied on the ultimate goodwill and moral conscious of white people to avoid the total racial cleansing of African Americans. To the contrary, collective and organized armed resistance advanced the logic of Black self-determination because it came with the realization that the white power structure would not protect Black people from violence, and that any alternative institutions that Black folks built in defiance to Jim Crow would need such protection. To that end, the “Natchez Model” of Black resistance was a fascinating revelation. The model combined militant economic boycotts (enforced by a specific arm of the Natchez Deacons for Defense called “the Spirits”, and other groups throughout the state that adopted the practice), with an open willingness to engage in armed self-defense and retaliatory violence. It was extremely effective in backing down the Klan and bringing the white power structure to the table.
One of the best aspects of this book is its depiction of the the astonishing degree of Black organized political activity in Mississippi during this time period. There were no shortage of Black organizations during this region and time, exploding the myth that Black Southerners simply sat on their hands until Dr. King showed up to lead them to the Mountaintop. The book also makes clear that Black Southerners had their own method of organizing—one that included and necessitated armed resistance—as organizing in Mississippi was both enabled and protected by such resistance. This method of organizing was rooted in the longstanding Southern Black tradition of armed struggle, dating all the way back to the armed slave revolts of the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Black armed resistance affirmed the humanity and dignity of Black people, and exposed the cowardice of white supremacists—especially the Klan. It showed Black people that power did indeed grow out of the barrel of a gun, and it showed white people that the Black Liberation Movement would not be bludgeoned to death. This was an inspiring read.
“We Will Shoot Back” makes abundantly clear that the “traditional” tactic of non-violent self-defense went hand-in-hand with the desire for integration, as it relied on the ultimate goodwill and moral conscious of white people to avoid the total racial cleansing of African Americans. To the contrary, collective and organized armed resistance advanced the logic of Black self-determination because it came with the realization that the white power structure would not protect Black people from violence, and that any alternative institutions that Black folks built in defiance to Jim Crow would need such protection. To that end, the “Natchez Model” of Black resistance was a fascinating revelation. The model combined militant economic boycotts (enforced by a specific arm of the Natchez Deacons for Defense called “the Spirits”, and other groups throughout the state that adopted the practice), with an open willingness to engage in armed self-defense and retaliatory violence. It was extremely effective in backing down the Klan and bringing the white power structure to the table.
One of the best aspects of this book is its depiction of the the astonishing degree of Black organized political activity in Mississippi during this time period. There were no shortage of Black organizations during this region and time, exploding the myth that Black Southerners simply sat on their hands until Dr. King showed up to lead them to the Mountaintop. The book also makes clear that Black Southerners had their own method of organizing—one that included and necessitated armed resistance—as organizing in Mississippi was both enabled and protected by such resistance. This method of organizing was rooted in the longstanding Southern Black tradition of armed struggle, dating all the way back to the armed slave revolts of the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Black armed resistance affirmed the humanity and dignity of Black people, and exposed the cowardice of white supremacists—especially the Klan. It showed Black people that power did indeed grow out of the barrel of a gun, and it showed white people that the Black Liberation Movement would not be bludgeoned to death. This was an inspiring read.
December 30, 2016
A fine book. The gist of it is this: the prevailing narrative about black Americans is that we were passive actors in our own liberation in the U.S. Even the Civil Rights Movement has been re-characterized as passive, glorifying non-violence as a state-of-being rather than the political act it is and was. Umoja tells the historical story of black people in the U.S. who not only took a very active role in their own social, political, and economic liberation but who did it in the most American way imaginable, i.e. embracing armed resistance. Umoja sets the stage with a short synopsis of how violent white organized crime turned back the brief gains for the formerly enslaved during reconstruction. Umoja's point is that there was never a period of "non-violence" for black Americans. And, the federal government's implicit (and sometimes explicit) support of white violence throughout the South (especially) made it necessary for blacks who stayed in the south during both waves of the great migration to defend their lives and property against white violence. From there, Umoja traces how major civil rights organizations, leaders, and others worked with and often defined themselves against armed resistance as a political strategy.
The data are sound and the book reads as meticulous. None of it was remarkably new to me but if you don't read a lot of the work on black lives and histories, it could be revelatory. It won't necessarily be fun to read. The retelling of historical incidents where some black person used a gun or any form of physical resistance can get a bit tedious. It is often presented in this book like a journalistic report. By the 40th time someone says he or she owned a gun or questioned non-violence, you should get the point. Repetition can be a useful literary device but usually works best when paired with vivid storytelling. Still, it is an important, solid book.
The data are sound and the book reads as meticulous. None of it was remarkably new to me but if you don't read a lot of the work on black lives and histories, it could be revelatory. It won't necessarily be fun to read. The retelling of historical incidents where some black person used a gun or any form of physical resistance can get a bit tedious. It is often presented in this book like a journalistic report. By the 40th time someone says he or she owned a gun or questioned non-violence, you should get the point. Repetition can be a useful literary device but usually works best when paired with vivid storytelling. Still, it is an important, solid book.
September 17, 2020
Eye Opening
I love reading detailed history that also allows you room to do further research. This book gives a very real and necessary view point on the barely taught era of Black history known as the Civil Rights Movement. The Movement is never taught in its totality, including the role women played, so this book is a treasure that needs to be more recognized.
I love reading detailed history that also allows you room to do further research. This book gives a very real and necessary view point on the barely taught era of Black history known as the Civil Rights Movement. The Movement is never taught in its totality, including the role women played, so this book is a treasure that needs to be more recognized.
January 22, 2014
Reading Akinyele Omowale Umoja’s brilliant We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement (NYU Press, 2013), in the midst of the national celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, was striking to say the least. Whereas the national narrative, from political speeches to ESPN commercials, imagines the civil right movement beginning and ending with King (and a sanitized and flattened history at that), while seemingly erasing the specter of white supremacist terrorist violence, Dr. Umoja chronicles the tireless organizing and agitation. He focuses on armed resistance, people who in the face of entrenched violence challenged white supremacist terror in Mississippi and beyond.
Dr. Umoka works from an expansive definition of armed resistance, which includes “individual and collective use of force for protection, protest, or other goals of insurgent political action and in defense of human rights… including armed self-defense, retaliatory violence, spontaneous rebellion, guerrilla warfare, armed vigilance/ enforcement and armed struggle” (7). The willingness or the threat to respond to violence with violence, to protect life, liberty and property “by any means necessary,” was central to the fight for freedom.
Pushing back at linear narratives and those that deny the importance of armed resistance, Dr. Omoja speaks to the dialectics between “unviolent” (Payne) tactics and those more militant strategies. The gun, like a mass meeting, the willingness to provide secured safe havens for Freedom Riders, like nonviolent training, were all crucial to building community, establishing trust, creating a sense of shared identity, and collectively generating “freedom dreams”; organizing was crucial irrespective of the tactic. We Will Shoot Back highlights the centrality of organizing and collectivity, pushing back at the individual/non-violent narrative to tell a multi-layered and crucial part of this history.
To read more of this review go to - http://drdavidjleonard.com/2014/01/21...
Dr. Umoka works from an expansive definition of armed resistance, which includes “individual and collective use of force for protection, protest, or other goals of insurgent political action and in defense of human rights… including armed self-defense, retaliatory violence, spontaneous rebellion, guerrilla warfare, armed vigilance/ enforcement and armed struggle” (7). The willingness or the threat to respond to violence with violence, to protect life, liberty and property “by any means necessary,” was central to the fight for freedom.
Pushing back at linear narratives and those that deny the importance of armed resistance, Dr. Omoja speaks to the dialectics between “unviolent” (Payne) tactics and those more militant strategies. The gun, like a mass meeting, the willingness to provide secured safe havens for Freedom Riders, like nonviolent training, were all crucial to building community, establishing trust, creating a sense of shared identity, and collectively generating “freedom dreams”; organizing was crucial irrespective of the tactic. We Will Shoot Back highlights the centrality of organizing and collectivity, pushing back at the individual/non-violent narrative to tell a multi-layered and crucial part of this history.
To read more of this review go to - http://drdavidjleonard.com/2014/01/21...
June 12, 2019
Good Book
It's a great read. Its show black people counter violence that was being perpetrated on tbem/us. This book should be read if you want to see black people with self respect.
It's a great read. Its show black people counter violence that was being perpetrated on tbem/us. This book should be read if you want to see black people with self respect.
September 4, 2021
10 stars!!! This is a must read!
July 26, 2017
I really enjoy reading about people laying down the bible and picking up the gun. Or in some cases hiding their guns in their bibles. Very interesting and important history for anybody interested in a more accurate picture of the civil rights movement than is taught and portrayed. Do kids learn about anybody but Martin Luther King Jr. and the nonviolence of pacifism these days? I sure didn't.
Anarchists, [if you're anything like me] you will burn with anger reading about the appeal to educated white liberals that was the civil rights movement, the demands of groups that included the hiring of black officers and a lot of other things that come with social justice, including government representation. But you will also be damn excited reading about the good 'ole Klan boys being scattered by gunfire, and people refusing to turn the other cheek. I'm no believer in Community, one of the greatest illusions of our time used by friend and foe alike to homogenize people, but these are areas of rural Mississippi at a time when the people who were involved in the murder of Emmett Till were still terrorizing their black neighbors. Much has changed, at yet things are so familiar.
Anarchists, [if you're anything like me] you will burn with anger reading about the appeal to educated white liberals that was the civil rights movement, the demands of groups that included the hiring of black officers and a lot of other things that come with social justice, including government representation. But you will also be damn excited reading about the good 'ole Klan boys being scattered by gunfire, and people refusing to turn the other cheek. I'm no believer in Community, one of the greatest illusions of our time used by friend and foe alike to homogenize people, but these are areas of rural Mississippi at a time when the people who were involved in the murder of Emmett Till were still terrorizing their black neighbors. Much has changed, at yet things are so familiar.
July 8, 2023
Engaging examination of the historical roots of armed self-defense in MS; this reads more like a history text than a polemic on theory of why you would need armed self-defense. The focus is much more specific and granular, a real region by region organizational look at the antecedents to the Black Power movement heyday, and the ongoing local use of armed defense into the 1980s.
Loved that the book focused a lot on tactics that were combined in various programs/protests based on community preference or need to achieve local goals, whether that was voter registration, pushing back on nightriders and terrorist white supremacy violence, access to jobs or education. The book does a great job problematizing and contextualizing the established non-violent narrative of the civil rights era. Non-violence was just the velvety glove outstretched for diplomacy, and was only accepted (begrudgingly!) by white power structures because inside that velvet glove was an iron fist the community became more and more adept at clarifying was the alternative to not allowing the black community to exploit it constitutional rights not being acknowledged equally, and do so without the implied threat of racist violence in the community.
This book finally answered a question I always had about boycotts as a strategy, like "how the hell do you keep whole communities from breaking a boycott or scabbing a strike?" I naively assumed it was exclusively the higher calling of the enterprise, liberation(!) that had whole communities participating comprehensively. Turns out, a much more straightforward was found, "Spirit" young guys who were organized to "make examples" of those who tried to head downtown and buy during boycotts, or ride buses...basically you were beat into line as an example for rest of community or advised why your actions were counter-intuitive to larger liberation goals. So yeah, that actually makes much more sense how those boycotts were so danged effective! I can imagine this method may have had lots of opportunity to be abused, but seems not to have been on the whole and DID keep the boycotts comprehensive and effective. I feel a bit stupid now, because it makes perfect sense in retrospect and also recalibrates the peak altruism non-violence narrative spoon fed Americans in school. The ability for a well-meaning group to do some dirt to make the end justify the means, actually seems much more authentic to me, more complicated, but at least now I have seen how that jigsaw piece fits into the puzzle of that era, thanks Akinyele!
Unfortunately, I'd propose the boycott as a genuinely effective tool of protest in the 1960-70's, seems to be a loss-leader in the present, where multinational corporations have vast markets and there is no amount of boycotting locally that will hurt a company's interests enough to make them advocates for your change; also almost none are owned locally, or even privately for that matter...late-stage capitalism has kicked out another leg of protest, there are no local business enterprises in most urban areas that would be beholden to an economic boycott, sure government and transportation are still vulnerable, but there's no more viable threat to "I'll withhold my monies to get you to the table..."
And you know what else? The more I learned about the fraternal relationships of the KKK in shadowy/vague collaboration with local governments and law enforcement in MS to obstruct normal process of free speech and protest. The more I see all these modern day police and military dudes posting in social media questionable or implied affiliation to these right-wing causes scares the crap out of me. These Proud Boy, Neo-Kluxer, paramilitary camp bozos I could easily see doing the same obstruction and denial of public sphere space tactics that were used to disenfranchise protest in MS throughout the book. These modern white supremacy groups baiting legitimate police brutality protests in 2020 with their "we're just protecting the population in case the police need support" while carrying martial weaponry to intimidate actual legal non-violent protest. Their presence is actually just to antagonize, shut down the entire dialogue/protest; this is right out of the Segregationist era KKK playbook, so maybe we should be looking back again for ways that worked in combatting this kind of crazy as it again is rearing it ugly mug.
Raise the cost to racists for intimidation of minority voices; if its easy, they will bother, if it costs them their health they will have to reflect on how much they really want you disenfranchised. This is the deterrence of armed self defense in a nutshell..."How bad do you want it really? I know you think you are willing to sacrifice ME for your cause, but are you ready to also sacrifice us both?" Because that's the choice you are offered when I am clearly wiling to defend myself.
Not shockingly, this book gave me a great deal to reflect on, very happy it was written and I had the chance to read it.
Loved that the book focused a lot on tactics that were combined in various programs/protests based on community preference or need to achieve local goals, whether that was voter registration, pushing back on nightriders and terrorist white supremacy violence, access to jobs or education. The book does a great job problematizing and contextualizing the established non-violent narrative of the civil rights era. Non-violence was just the velvety glove outstretched for diplomacy, and was only accepted (begrudgingly!) by white power structures because inside that velvet glove was an iron fist the community became more and more adept at clarifying was the alternative to not allowing the black community to exploit it constitutional rights not being acknowledged equally, and do so without the implied threat of racist violence in the community.
This book finally answered a question I always had about boycotts as a strategy, like "how the hell do you keep whole communities from breaking a boycott or scabbing a strike?" I naively assumed it was exclusively the higher calling of the enterprise, liberation(!) that had whole communities participating comprehensively. Turns out, a much more straightforward was found, "Spirit" young guys who were organized to "make examples" of those who tried to head downtown and buy during boycotts, or ride buses...basically you were beat into line as an example for rest of community or advised why your actions were counter-intuitive to larger liberation goals. So yeah, that actually makes much more sense how those boycotts were so danged effective! I can imagine this method may have had lots of opportunity to be abused, but seems not to have been on the whole and DID keep the boycotts comprehensive and effective. I feel a bit stupid now, because it makes perfect sense in retrospect and also recalibrates the peak altruism non-violence narrative spoon fed Americans in school. The ability for a well-meaning group to do some dirt to make the end justify the means, actually seems much more authentic to me, more complicated, but at least now I have seen how that jigsaw piece fits into the puzzle of that era, thanks Akinyele!
Unfortunately, I'd propose the boycott as a genuinely effective tool of protest in the 1960-70's, seems to be a loss-leader in the present, where multinational corporations have vast markets and there is no amount of boycotting locally that will hurt a company's interests enough to make them advocates for your change; also almost none are owned locally, or even privately for that matter...late-stage capitalism has kicked out another leg of protest, there are no local business enterprises in most urban areas that would be beholden to an economic boycott, sure government and transportation are still vulnerable, but there's no more viable threat to "I'll withhold my monies to get you to the table..."
And you know what else? The more I learned about the fraternal relationships of the KKK in shadowy/vague collaboration with local governments and law enforcement in MS to obstruct normal process of free speech and protest. The more I see all these modern day police and military dudes posting in social media questionable or implied affiliation to these right-wing causes scares the crap out of me. These Proud Boy, Neo-Kluxer, paramilitary camp bozos I could easily see doing the same obstruction and denial of public sphere space tactics that were used to disenfranchise protest in MS throughout the book. These modern white supremacy groups baiting legitimate police brutality protests in 2020 with their "we're just protecting the population in case the police need support" while carrying martial weaponry to intimidate actual legal non-violent protest. Their presence is actually just to antagonize, shut down the entire dialogue/protest; this is right out of the Segregationist era KKK playbook, so maybe we should be looking back again for ways that worked in combatting this kind of crazy as it again is rearing it ugly mug.
Raise the cost to racists for intimidation of minority voices; if its easy, they will bother, if it costs them their health they will have to reflect on how much they really want you disenfranchised. This is the deterrence of armed self defense in a nutshell..."How bad do you want it really? I know you think you are willing to sacrifice ME for your cause, but are you ready to also sacrifice us both?" Because that's the choice you are offered when I am clearly wiling to defend myself.
Not shockingly, this book gave me a great deal to reflect on, very happy it was written and I had the chance to read it.
December 4, 2022
(Audio) I prefer an author a little more removed from the topic but other than that slant, this is a powerful historical account to challenges the solely non-violent movement success of human and civil rights movement in Mississippi. It is a strong reminder to white liberals that allowing oneself and family and community and people to be terrorized, beaten and murdered is not okay. And armed resistance is not only understandable, it may have been and may only be the path for actual change…or at least the sentinel to ensure change happens.
April 3, 2016
The novel was an excellent read. It gives a behind the scenes look at what the civil rights movement was really like it wasn't just a nonviolent movement it also was an armed defense movement. This novel doesn't promote violence or gun use but it shows how black leaders fought to gain respect for African Americans if you enjoy learning about black history and the civil rights movement than this is the novel you should read.
January 5, 2022
Little known history of armed resistance of African Americans
This book was an eye opening history on armed resistance in the struggle for human and civil rights by black people in the deep south from the fall of the reconstruction period up until the end of the Black Power movement. You can tell it was well researched by the detail and amount of foot notes.
This book was an eye opening history on armed resistance in the struggle for human and civil rights by black people in the deep south from the fall of the reconstruction period up until the end of the Black Power movement. You can tell it was well researched by the detail and amount of foot notes.
July 13, 2020
Vital, accessible, highly educational.
July 27, 2023
Required reading
September 15, 2025
"Armed resistance must be included with litigation, mass organizing, nonviolent demonstrations and protests, as well as other forms of insurgent challenge to force federal intervention and a change in White attitudes and behavior toward Black humanity."
Umoja provides a thorough history of a part of the Black Liberation Movement/Civil Rights Movement that was left out of my formal education. Though at times it began to feel like a laundry list of dates and incidents, I learned the names and actions of major figures in the Black Belt armed resistance movement, and how it inspired the Movement as a whole in the 60s and 70s. Would recommend for sure.
Umoja provides a thorough history of a part of the Black Liberation Movement/Civil Rights Movement that was left out of my formal education. Though at times it began to feel like a laundry list of dates and incidents, I learned the names and actions of major figures in the Black Belt armed resistance movement, and how it inspired the Movement as a whole in the 60s and 70s. Would recommend for sure.
February 9, 2014
Really important documentation of the legacy of armed resistance in Mississippi during the Black freedom movement. Well written. The role of women was briefly mentioned here and there but I think there could have been more attention paid to this; but overall, great read. Highly recommend it.
January 7, 2024
primarily read for its chapter on the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (chapter 7) after finishing Edward Onaci’s recent book “Free the Land”
the entirety of “We Will Shoot Back” is a worthwhile read-though for study of the Black Radical Tradition and the history of liberation movements in Amerika
the entirety of “We Will Shoot Back” is a worthwhile read-though for study of the Black Radical Tradition and the history of liberation movements in Amerika
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April 2, 2014Fascinating and little known history of armed self-defense in Mississippi. I wish there had been more about women activists, particularly those who served as enforcers. Vignettes, like the ones on male activists would have been helpful and informative. All and all a solid monograph.
October 23, 2022
Excellent book on the use of firearms during the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. I didn't realize how messed up Mississippi was. A complete civil rights disaster. But this book shows how people defended themselves against racists back in the day. I learned a lot.
November 11, 2024
This started difficult for me because for the first chapter or so it read, to me, like a dissertation and my brain wanted to check out. Once it got into the real meat of the book and I was able to follow these historical figures figures by name it became a read I ate up fast.
Incredible how white people somehow learn to frown upon this side of history through the praising of “non violent resistance” while simultaneously not being taught about at all about the prevalence or efficacy of armed resistance. Also found the successful use of organized boycotts interesting as well, especially as they have started to be criminalized in the US.
Incredible how white people somehow learn to frown upon this side of history through the praising of “non violent resistance” while simultaneously not being taught about at all about the prevalence or efficacy of armed resistance. Also found the successful use of organized boycotts interesting as well, especially as they have started to be criminalized in the US.
July 17, 2022
The same day Turnbow told a young female activist, ‘(E)ver what the Mississippi white man pose with, he got to be met with…Meet him with ever he pose with, if he pose with a smile, meet him with a smile, and if he pose with a gun, meet him with a gun.’
Although this book was written almost 10 years ago, it is I believe an important addition to any discussion of the Civil Rights movement being solely a non-violent one.
This book however goes beyond other important books in this field such as Timothy Tyson’s “Radio Free Dixie” or Charles E. Cobb’s “This Nonviolent Stuff Will Get You Killed” in that it follows black militant resistance to white terror beyond where history usually stops covering it (typically sometime between the late 60’s up to the demise of the Black Panther Party). Umoja’s research instead shows that black resistance was alive and well throughout the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s where drugs, inter-organizational strife, the political rise and representation of black neighborhoods, and government harassment would all play a part in the eventual dissolution of black power focused organizations.
Despite having read about some of the people and organizations prominent during the Civil Rights and post Civil Rights eras such as Robert Williams, Hartman Turnbow, and the Deacons for Defense, I learned quite a bit about their successors in the 1970’s such as the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Africa (PGRNA) which provided security for demonstrations, organized significant boycotts of white businesses, and protected black communities from the KKK and other threats to their lives and properties.
One thing that struck me about this book, and others doing similar research, is how the nonviolent Civil Rights movement often relied on these armed groups to provide security for their marches and demonstrations and to insure that their friends and families were safe. It is in many respects a remarkable achievement of community organizing and self defense. Umoja comes to the conclusion that without armed groups like the Deacons of Defense insuring the safety of Civil Rights workers (not always successfully unfortunately) many of the seminal moments of the Civil Rights movement may not have occurred as they did. Equally unfortunately, the battle for basic dignity and human rights did not, as history leads us to believe, did not end with the signing of Civil Rights legislation. White terror continued long after the ink was dry and black self defense organizations served a critical purpose in keeping them relatively in check.
October 3, 2014
Fanon meets the Freedom Summer. An extraordinarily well-written book on the Civil Rights/Freedom Movement in Mississippi. This book joins Lance Hill's book on the Deacons for Defense (Louisiana) and Timothy Tyson's book on Robert F. Williams (North Carolina) in a growing body of literature that fundamentally challenges the primacy of nonviolence in various civil rights struggles. SNCC, CORE, and other organizations had their ideologies and ideologues, but these grassroots activists interacted with local people who held very different ideas about self-defense, retaliation, and violence. If you're studying Mississippi, read this alongside Bruce Watson's book on the Freedom Summer, Nan Woodruff's "American Congo," John Dittmer's "Local People," and Ann Moody's autobiography. It seems that there were two "Mississippis" - a public one of activist martyrs being assaulted for exercising their 14th & 15th Amendment rights and a private one of gun culture that was kept quietly behind the scenes. I'd give this five stars, but many of Umoja's sources are listed as "discussion with the author" and, at least as indicated in the book, are not recorded or archived in a public or private collection. Unless these sources are verifiable, some of the better quotes and reminiscences in the book are powerful but questionable. Like scientific inquiry, historical research should be verifiable.
August 19, 2023
We Will Shoot Back, by Akinyele Omowale Umoja. 2013.
An important aspect of history related to the Freedom Movement that is often either watered down or completely ignored. This was a bit of a slow read for me because I was reading it in between reading several other books.
Umoja offers some preliminary examples of armed self-defense starting in the late 1800's, but then traces connections from the 1950's forward, with a special emphasis on Mississippi (but not exclusively).
Anyone who is interested in the Civil Rights Movement/Freedom Movement in the US should read this book. It will challenge many preconceived notions you might hold about the role of strictly non-violent approaches and things like armed resistance and self-defense.
The writing was a bit dry for me, but the information and the historical anecdotes were well worth pushing through to the end.
An important aspect of history related to the Freedom Movement that is often either watered down or completely ignored. This was a bit of a slow read for me because I was reading it in between reading several other books.
Umoja offers some preliminary examples of armed self-defense starting in the late 1800's, but then traces connections from the 1950's forward, with a special emphasis on Mississippi (but not exclusively).
Anyone who is interested in the Civil Rights Movement/Freedom Movement in the US should read this book. It will challenge many preconceived notions you might hold about the role of strictly non-violent approaches and things like armed resistance and self-defense.
The writing was a bit dry for me, but the information and the historical anecdotes were well worth pushing through to the end.
August 6, 2019
The stated purpose of the book is to redirect the narrative and it is successful in that. This is an element of the civil rights movement that is almost always underplayed and completely left out by left leaning scholars.
It is a near perfect defence of the Second Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States. Everyone who longs for the day when people are allowed only to walk about in pink angora with only a dirty look to defend themselves from the encroachments of government should have a look.
It is a near perfect defence of the Second Ammendment to the Constitution of the United States. Everyone who longs for the day when people are allowed only to walk about in pink angora with only a dirty look to defend themselves from the encroachments of government should have a look.
January 30, 2018
Very interesting the story and the plot behind the story. It was the informative and interesting treatment of movement history. Primary sources are rare and unique providing novel and practical look at the civil rights movement in Mississippi. This book presents local people in a whole new light. Great book, I did enjoy this one.
May 28, 2019
The armed resistance had a gradual impact on the black freedom movement in the state of Mississippi. However when it became reality, it became successful in denying the nightriders attacks, economically boycotting the commerce of white business, and gaining the rights of equal employment, school integration and voter registration.
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February 24, 2015A thoroughly researched book showing how armed self defense made a huge difference in keeping civil rights workers alive and creating the basis for the eventual victory against legal segregation. Great interviews of prime movers in the South in a very dangerous time.
July 13, 2020
Informative but seemed a bit repetitive .
Readers may likes female perspective : (IS It me, is it my hair. Is it my skin color, is it my eyes or is it you?)
Authors Brenda Y. Person PhD and Jane K Firldings BGS.
Readers may likes female perspective : (IS It me, is it my hair. Is it my skin color, is it my eyes or is it you?)
Authors Brenda Y. Person PhD and Jane K Firldings BGS.
July 1, 2024
After many months I have finally completed We Will Shoot Back! Written during a time as old truisms of the history of the civil rights movement are being questioned I would love to say that this was an interesting and enjoyable read, but I am afraid I cannot do so. While there are many interesting parts in the text, the book is seriously let down by its poor writing style to the point where I found that I could only read a page or two at a time. Typically, a paragraph is written almost as a series of loosely connected sentences that goes something like "This event happened. Then this event happened. Then this event happened." which makes the whole experience a slog to get through. I thought that it may have been a consequence of the author writing in a somewhat bland historical form, but when he discusses his personal life in the conclusion it is in the exact same format. An indicative sentence is "The New African new communities would be built primarily by urban blacks relocating to the rural South (189)" with virtually every sentence being in the exact same form without any connectors.
This is a shame since there is a wider discussion going on around the topic of protest movements right now. Violence vs non-violence, and hierarchical vs lateral organizing are all up for debate but I cannot say that this book truly adds too much to the discussion because of its writing, along with the books lack of focus on the topic at hand. Out of 250 pages for example, the first hundred is by in large only dedicated to the biographies handful of militant individuals who could have been condensed to a "predecessors" chapter, with the remaining chapters dedicated to the the militant organizing by figures like Charles Evers, and Rudy Shields. That being said, I did learn some new things such as how the debate of violence vs non-violence was not so much a debate of morality, but of tactics which is a useful framework that I have been mulling over these months.
As mass protest movements are learning and relearning how to protest around the world, I cannot add this to the reading list on that topic.
This is a shame since there is a wider discussion going on around the topic of protest movements right now. Violence vs non-violence, and hierarchical vs lateral organizing are all up for debate but I cannot say that this book truly adds too much to the discussion because of its writing, along with the books lack of focus on the topic at hand. Out of 250 pages for example, the first hundred is by in large only dedicated to the biographies handful of militant individuals who could have been condensed to a "predecessors" chapter, with the remaining chapters dedicated to the the militant organizing by figures like Charles Evers, and Rudy Shields. That being said, I did learn some new things such as how the debate of violence vs non-violence was not so much a debate of morality, but of tactics which is a useful framework that I have been mulling over these months.
As mass protest movements are learning and relearning how to protest around the world, I cannot add this to the reading list on that topic.
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