Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America

The story of young Black activists at the helm of fighting injustice over the last century, from the 1920s to the Trayvon generation, and how they transformed America and left an indelible mark on history.

Growing up as a Nigerian immigrant in the South Bronx, award-winning journalist Rita Omokha contended with her Blackness. In 2020, when George Floyd died at the hands of a white police officer, her exploration further developed as she traveled to thirty states attempting to mine contemporary race relations in the United States. During her trip, she encountered audacious young people like 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, who filmed Floyd’s murder, entering a seismic tragedy into the public and historical records, and set off a wave of unprecedented protests across the country. Darnella’s quick thinking and courage in that moment is part of a more significant legacy: that of the young Black people--often only teenagers--who have been at the forefront of fortifying and safeguarding American democracy in the last hundred years.

In Resist, Rita charts the last century of civil rights activism, from the early years of renowned activist Ella Baker and others she inspired, to the first glimpse of allyship in the Bates Seven and a renewed examination of the Black Panther Party, all the way to the current generation of young Black revolutionaries who walked American cities in the wake of the murders of countless Black people. Rita also draws on her own experiences as a Black immigrant living in America, offering a unique and insightful perspective on this ongoing struggle for justice.

Rendered with empathy and care, Resist ties these pivotal stories together--and so many more that are lesser known--into an essential and gripping narrative of resilience and unity, and how young Black activists redefined American history.

RITA OMOKHA is a prize-winning journalist and essayist, who has been featured on CNN, Teen Vogue, USA Today, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. She teaches at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she graduated at the top of the 2020 class, receiving some of the institution’s highest awards, including the Pulitzer Prizes’ Traveling Fellowship. She lives in Manhattan.