Resources & Education

The History of Black Gun Ownership

For centuries, African Americans have fought for their right to bear arms. From the Buffalo Soldiers to the Deacons for Defense, history shows the critical role that gun ownership has played in the fight for self-defense and civil rights.

📚 Suggested Reading List:

• 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back – David F. Krugler

• Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party – Joshua Bloom, et al.

• Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms – Nicholas Johnson

• Negroes with Guns – Robert F. Williams

• Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williams and the Roots of Black Power – Timothy B. Tyson

• Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America – Cameron McWhirter

• The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement – Lance Hill

• This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible – Charles E. Cobb, Jr.

• Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party – Curtis J. Austin, et al.

• We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance – Kellie Carter Jackson

• We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement – Dr. Akinyele Omowale Umoja