Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates & Allies

The fights for racial equality and LGBTQ equality have always gone hand-in-hand, and there’s a long history of Black queer activists leading change and fighting discrimination -- from Bayard Rustin to Audre Lorde and beyond. Their contributions span centuries, and their fight for social change continues with the work of modern-day activists. Here are 7 young Black LGBTQ activists who inspire us this Pride Month.

Civil rights activists, known for their fight against social injustice and their lasting impact on the lives of all oppressed people, include Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois and Malcolm X.

The hard-won advancements of civil rights were made possible by the struggle, commitment, and work of people who stood up to discrimination and white supremacy. We look to these heroes from our past for lessons and inspiration as we continue their important work into the future.

A common thread running throughout the long story of abolition is the courageous individual standing up for freedom and justice. These heroes aren't all famous, wealthy or in high office. You don't even find them in every history book. They're everyday people, like you and me, from every corner of the globe who choose to demand freedom. Caretakers serve those escaping to freedom by providing care, support and sanctuary to victims. Defenders, like lawyers and law enforcement officials, use the law to advance freedom. Advocates leverage their personal passion and moral clarity to change the hearts, minds, attitudes and laws in a culture. And lastly, Freedom Fighters intervene to break the physical and mental bonds of slavery, rescuing slaves from bondage often at the risk of their own safety. These are just some of the examples of courageous individuals we see fighting slavery today, and they mirror the types of actions taken by individuals throughout time.

Women of the Movement: Leaders for Civil Rights and Voting Rights
Profiles female leaders and documents their contributions to the fight for civil and voting rights. Beginning with Sojourner Truth, former slave and abolitionist, and concluding with contemporaries Diane Nash, a key player in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Cincinnati’s Marian Spencer, a champion for Civil Rights both locally and nationally, the exhibit spans history into current times. Celebrating African-American Women of Movement was curated by June Taylor-Slaughter, public services supervisor in the Geology-Mathematics-Physics Library, and designed by Michelle Matevia, former UC Libraries communication design co-op student. A handout is available at the exhibit and online with more information on the women featured in the exhibit

The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.

AI is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people – no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

BYP100 is National, member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do this through building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens.

We design campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champion solutions that move us all forward. Until justice is real.

The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.

The Movement for Black Lives is an ecosystem of individuals and organizations creating a shared vision and policy agenda to win rights, recognition, and resources for Black people. In doing so, the movement makes it possible for us, and therefore everyone, to live healthy and fruitful lives.

From police brutality to COVID-19 to voter suppression, Black communities are under attack. We work to disrupt inequality, dismantle racism, and accelerate change in key areas including criminal justice, health care, education, climate, and the economy. When it comes to civil rights and social justice, we have the unique ability to secure more wins than anyone else.

Since 2003, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) has been America’s leading national civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+, and same gender loving (LGBTQ+/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS through coalition building, federal policy change, research, and education. Our mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ+/SGL bias and stigma. NBJC supports Black individuals, families, and communities in strengthening the bonds and bridging the gaps between the movements for racial justice and LGBTQ+/SGL equity.

Enabling African Americans and other underserved urban residents to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, the Urban League collaborates at the national and local levels with community leaders, policymakers, and corporate partners to elevate the standards of living for African Americans and other historically underserved groups.

Race Forward catalyzes movement building for racial justice. In partnership with communities, organizations, and sectors, we build strategies to advance racial justice in our policies, institutions, and culture.

A home for white people working for justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, seeks to move white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for racial justice.

the largest national multi-ethnic Reproductive Justice collective. Our membership includes and represents Indigenous, African American, Arab and Middle Eastern, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Latina women and LGBTQ people. Membership also includes allies who support women’s human right to lead fully self-determined lives. We are dedicated to growing and supporting the RJ movement, and to uplifting the voices and building the capacity of our movement sisters to win access to abortion and all other reproductive rights. Reproductive Justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.

In 2013, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC—pronounced “Snick”) Legacy Project and Duke University formed a partnership to chronicle the historic struggles for voting rights and to develop ongoing programs that contribute to a more civil and inclusive democracy in the 21st century. This documentary website tells the story of how young activists in SNCC united with local people in the Deep South to build a grassroots movement for change that empowered the Black community and transformed the nation. The SNCC Digital Gateway portrays how SNCC worked to take control of their political and economic lives.

The SPLC is the premier U.S. non-profit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists.
We’re currently tracking more than 1,600 extremist groups operating across the country. We publish investigative reports, train law enforcement officers and share key intelligence, and offer expert analysis to the media and public.

SNCC’s history of sit-ins, freedom rides, and protests of segregation in public spaces is well documented. But most of SNCC’s story is not known, thus an important component of the 50th anniversary conference was to begin the job of telling the full story of the organization. This series is a complete record of every panel and plenary session at the 50th conference. They are unique not only in their comprehensiveness, but also because they feature an unprecedented number of SNCC veterans publically examining their Movement experiences. Many of these veterans are not usually encountered in the Civil Rights Movement canon. (California Newsreel)

This short zine offers 12 suggestions that people can do instead of calling the cops. They focus a lot on simple things that can be done to avoid having to call the first place such as compiling alternative resource lists for mental health and encouraging people to approach those in they are having issues with rather than getting the state involved in a conflict. Underlying the entire zine is the premise that strong communities can make it possible to handle conflicts without involving the police.

On this page, you will find all sorts of websites that contain information about activism. We put the websites that publish their content under a Creative Commons license apart, so that we know which ones to integrate with our platform.

We offer tools, research, tips, curricula, and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working for racial justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities, and the culture at large.