Celebrating Women’s History with the League of Women for Community Service, featuring Kellie Carter Jackson

To kick off Women’s History Month, the Athenaeum joined forces with The League of Women for Community Service (LWCS) of the South End, one of the oldest continuing Black women’s service organizations in the United States, with a rousing author talk by Kellie Carter Jackson, the Michael and Denise Kellen 68’ Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College and author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance. Black resistance to white supremacy is often reduced to a simple binary, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence and Malcolm X’s “by any means necessary.” In We Refuse, historian Carter Jackson urges us to move past this false choice, offering an unflinching examination of the breadth of Black responses to white oppression, particularly those pioneered by Black women. Carter Jackson’s scholarly research shares a natural connection with the rich legacy of LWCS – revolution, resilience, flight, protection, and especially joy!

About the Author

Kellie Carter Jackson is the Michael and Denise Kellen 68’ Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. She is the author of the award-winning book, Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence. Her most recent, critically acclaimed work, We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance (Seal Press), examines a radical reframing of the past and present of Black resistance—both nonviolent and violent—to white supremacy. We Refuse was listed as one of the best books of 2024 by eight different publications and organizations. Dr. Carter Jackson’s essays have been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, and other outlets. She has also been interviewed for her expertise on Netflix, Apple TV, Good Morning America, CBS Morning, MSNBC, PBS, Vox, CNN, the BBC, and a host of documentaries. Carter Jackson served as Historian-in-Residence for the Museum of African American History in Boston from 2021 – 2024. She also serves as a commissioner for the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Lastly, Carter Jackson loves a good podcast! She is the co-host of the podcast, “This Day in Esoteric Political History” with Jody Avirgan and Niki Hemmer.