Chapter 1 examines themes of self-fashioned identity, martyrdom, and legacy through a close reading of The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. I argue that Malcolm X emerges as a foundational figure for later generations of Black activists who challenged corrupt policing through political organizing, grassroots activism, and armed self-defense.

Chapter 2 focuses on the second generation of Black activism by analyzing the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Centering a close reading of Huey P. Newton’s autobiography, Revolutionary Suicide, the chapter examines the tension between the Party’s public service mission—education, housing, and healthcare—and the public and private reputations of its leaders. I argue that the Party’s community-centered political vision was ultimately undermined by the actions of rogue members whose criminal acts, including murder, destabilized the organization and its public legacy.

Chapter 3 analyzes the impact of police brutality and community violence on hip-hop through the music of Tupac Shakur. I argue that Tupac functions as an ancestral figure whose artistic and political interventions continue to inspire contemporary Black rappers and resonate broadly, extending the influence of Black radical thought and activism to audiences beyond traditional activist circles.

Chapter 4 examines the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement through young adult literature, focusing on Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give. I argue that this literature provides youth with critical frameworks for understanding police brutality, structural anti-Black violence, and Black trauma, connecting literary study to ongoing social and political struggles.

Experience the sounds of the archive: Listen to the “Transcribing Brutality: Violence, Martyrdom, and Legacy in Black Literature and Social Movements” Mixtape, a sonic genealogy of Black activism, on my Digital Projects page.