Description
Book SynopsisIn
Black Disability Politics Sami Schalk explores how issues of disability have been and continue to be central to Black activism from the 1970s to the present. Schalk shows how Black people have long engaged with disability as a political issue deeply tied to race and racism. She points out that this work has not been recognized as part of the legacy of disability justice and liberation because Black disability politics differ in language and approach from the mainstream white-dominant disability rights movement. Drawing on the archives of the Black Panther Party and the National Black Women’s Health Project alongside interviews with contemporary Black disabled cultural workers, Schalk identifies common qualities of Black disability politics, including the need to ground public health initiatives in the experience and expertise of marginalized disabled people so that they can work in antiracist, feminist, and anti-ableist ways. Prioritizing an understanding of disability
Trade Review"With Sami Schalk’s incredible book,
Black Disability Politics, we begin to move into a different kind of book doing intrinsically connected work—a rigorously researched look at all the ways that disabled people’s concerns have been foundational to Black resistance organizing. . . . If knowing your history is a key ingredient to success,
Black Disability Politics presents a deeply researched and still incredibly readable map of the past, with implications for the shimmering future. This, along with what I can only describe as a muscular clarity in her writing, was incredible as a beginner to the topic to feel my understanding grow as I read, and that is only possible in the capable hands of a great writer like Schalk." -- S. Bear Bergman * Xtra! *
"Sami Schalk explores the histories and essential lessons of Black disabled labor, politics and movements. This is a long-overdue and essential volume." -- Karla Strand * Ms. *
"
Black Disability Politics is a profound exploration and documentation of a cultural topic that has gone overlooked throughout the entire history of the Black American experience. . . . A deeply important view of the fight for the rights of disabled Black people in America since the 1970s." -- Jordannah Elizabeth * New York Amsterdam News *
"This book will be of particular interest to undergraduate and graduate students because it invites continued exploration of Black disability studies and politics. Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty."
-- S. Burch * Choice *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii
Introduction. Black Health Matters 1
1. “We Have a Right to Rebel”: Black Disability Politics in the Black Panther Party 23
2. Fighting Psychiatric Abuse: The BPP and the Black Disability Politics of Mental and Carceral Institutions 48
Praxis Interlude One. Anti-ableist Approaches to Fighting Disabling Violence 69
3. Empowerment through Wellness: Black Disability Politics in the National Black Women’s Health Project 81
4. More Than Just Prevention: The NBWHP and the Black Disability of HIV/AIDS 110
Praxis Interlude Two. Approaches to Disability Identity in Black Disability Politics 129
5. Black Disability Politics Now 140
(Not a) Conclusion. The Present and Futures of Black Disability Politics 154
Notes 161
Bibliography 187
Index 199
