Radical Reads for July 4th: Resistance, Rebellion & the Law
- Hadiyah Cummings
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
A Reading List for Future LawyHers and Co-Conspirators
This Fourth of July may feel a little different for you. You may find yourself contemplating what it means to aspire to be a lawyher (or practice as one) during a time when the rule of law is under attack. With that in mind, we have curated a list of books, essays, and speeches designed to spark conversation and critical thought around the systemic challenges to freedom in America.
While you're enjoying backyard barbecues and firework displays, why not also expand your knowledge on themes of oppression, resistance, and progressive transformation? These "radical reads" offer insights into understanding systems not built for all; providing a roadmap for reshaping our landscape.
As you read, consider your role in these systems and how you can make a meaningful impact in changing them.
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Books
📖 Are Prisons Obsolete? – Angela Y. Davis
A short, electrifying manifesto against the prison-industrial complex.
📖 Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism – Derrick Bell
A cornerstone of Critical Race Theory arguing racism is embedded in American law.
📖 No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need – Naomi Klein
A handbook for resistance and building alternatives in an era of authoritarian politics.
📖 The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness – Michelle Alexander
An essential critique of how mass incarceration sustains racial caste.
📖 No One is Illegal (Updated Edition) – Justin Akers Chacón & Mike Davis
A radical history of immigrant struggles and the criminalization of migration.
📖 We the People: A Progressive Reading of the Constitution for the Twenty-First Century – Erwin Chemerinsky
A reimagining of the U.S. Constitution as a tool for justice and equality.
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Essays & Articles
🪧 The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House – Audre Lorde
A foundational feminist critique on resisting co-optation and building new structures.
🪧 The Law School as a White Space – I. Bennett Capers
Explores how law schools and legal practice reproduce whiteness.
🪧 Law for Black Radical Liberation – Paul Gowder
Reflections on using law as a tool for advancing social justice..
🪧 Lawyering in the Wake: Theorizing the Practice of Law in the Midst of Anti-Black Catastrophe – James Stevenson Ramsey
A radical call to practice law from within systems of violence, not above them.
🪧 Abolition Constitutionalism – Dorothy E. Roberts
Imagines a constitutional framework rooted in abolitionist visions.
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Speeches
🎤 What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? – Frederick Douglass
A searing condemnation of American hypocrisy in celebrating freedom.
🎤 Letter from Birmingham Jail – Martin Luther King, Jr.
A landmark statement on civil disobedience, often celebrated but also critiqued for framing American freedom as a destined moral arc.
🎤 The Negro Woman’s Stake in the Equal Rights Amendment – Pauli Murray
An early intersectional analysis of racism and sexism in the legal and civic spheres.
The messages in this list highlight and reinforce our central commitment at LawyHer: breaking down barriers. Through mentorship, education, and fundraising, we're working to diversify the legal profession and empower the next generation of women in law.
Your support directly enables us to equip the changemakers of tomorrow. Please consider joining our mission and donating at Lawyher.org/donate.
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