In 'Kingdom of No Tomorrow,' a young woman joins the Black Panther Party

You’ve likely heard of the MeToo movement, but you may not know where the phrase “me too” originated. In Unbound, award-winning activist Tarana Burke explores the pivotal role she played in founding the movement. Burke coined the phrase “me too” as a tool for healing from sexual violence based on her own journey of recovery via community connection, and she continues to work toward healing sexual violence in the Black community.

Our guide begins with a discussion of Burke’s experience of childhood sexual abuse. Next, we explore how community organizing helped Burke cope with her trauma and grow. Then, we consider the factors that led Burke to found the “me too” movement. Finally, we discuss how “me too” changed Burke’s life, explain how it relates to the MeToo hashtag, and describe Burke’s hopes for the movement’s future. In our commentary, we’ll provide more context about sexual violence and its intersection with racial injustice, explore both the original and the viral movements, and share other experts' advice on healing.

Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming delivers candid reflections on the life of the first African-American first lady. Offering a window into her personal evolution, Michelle details how ambition, hard work, and embracing her authentic story helped her journey from her family’s Chicago working-class neighborhood to a 47th-floor law office, then to the White House and beyond.

Becoming provides insights into Michelle’s self-determination: She pushed herself to excel in Ivy League classrooms and achieve a prestigious career by age 26, then mustered the courage to swerve off that path in search of greater fulfillment. It details her relationship with Barack—a love story of two opposites—and their challenging quest to navigate family and political life. Through it all, we witness a woman who perpetually strives to become a better version of herself.

Finding Me, Viola Davis’s memoir published in 2022, recounts her extraordinary journey from the depths of poverty to the heights of Hollywood stardom. In this deeply personal account, Davis shares how acting became a beacon of hope and a path toward self-discovery in the midst of poverty, abuse, and racial discrimination.

Davis, celebrated for her roles in The Help, Doubt, How To Get Away With Murder, and Fences, has distinguished herself in film, television, and theater, achieving the historic "Triple Crown of Acting." Beyond her acting career, she co-runs JuVee Productions, aiming to produce diverse storytelling across various media.

This guide provides a detailed overview of Davis's life, enriched with historical context and additional information not found in the memoir, while also exploring Davis’ impact on the discussions about the importance of diverse storytelling in the media.

If you could spend several weeks in the body of someone of a different race, would you? In 1959, one man tried to do this. White journalist John Howard Griffin darkened his skin to appear like a Black man, then traveled for six weeks throughout the segregated Southern US. Griffin predicted that he’d experience racial discrimination, and he hoped this outcome would convince white Americans that the US was not the racism-free country they thought it was. In Black Like Me, Griffin’s account of his journey, he argues that his hypothesis was correct: Black Southerners faced brutal racism.

In this guide, we’ll describe Griffin’s experiences passing as a Black man and share his conclusions about Southern race relations. Throughout this guide, we’ll contextualize Griffin’s experiences and ideas by exploring the history of racism according to experts such as Ibram X. Kendi and Michelle Alexander. Furthermore, we’ll outline critics’ opinions of this controversial book. Finally, we’ll examine the relevance of Griffin’s ideas to life today.

Conventional accounts of American history tend to focus on the people at the top—presidents, generals, CEOs, and other influential figures and their struggles, ambitions, hopes, and dreams. But what about average people? The ones who had to live with the consequences of elite decisions, and who often struggled in obscurity? In A People’s History of the United States, historian Howard Zinn aims to tell their story, providing a bottom-up view of American history focusing on Indigenous people, Black Americans, women, laborers, and activists.

Our guide outlines Zinn’s interpretation of significant events, themes, and historical trends in American history. Through our commentary, we’ll provide alternative opinions on the motivations behind and consequences of historical events. We’ll also further explain Zinn’s approach to history and provide additional context for his arguments as well as his perspective on events that happened after the book’s publication.

Published in 1965, The Autobiography of Malcolm X chronicles how Malcolm X rose from a life of poverty and crime to become a significant leader of the civil rights movement. Malcolm X was a controversial figure—his views were often considered extreme and changed radically throughout his life. In telling his story (with the help of writer Alex Haley), Malcolm X explains why he believed what he believed—and why he fought for racial justice, even though he knew it would lead to his death.

This guide discusses the impact that early experiences of racism, pro-Black radical traditions, and Islam had on Malcolm X as well as his achievements as a civil rights activist. We’ll go into the historical and sociological context surrounding Malcolm X’s life and explore the civil rights movement (and Malcolm X’s relationship to other activists, like Martin Luther King Jr.) in more depth. We’ll also connect historical and present-day racism, and we’ll provide an update on the circumstances leading up to Malcolm X’s murder and his legacy.

In 1951, a 30-year-old African-American woman named Henrietta Lacks entered Johns Hopkins Hospital to be treated for cervical cancer. In a matter of months she was dead, overcome by her cancer’s malignancy. Her cancer cells, however, would prove immortal—and change medicine forever.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta, her family, and her incredible cells. Tracking both the scientific advances owed to “HeLa” cells and the struggles of Henrietta’s descendants, author Rebecca Skloot leads readers through the history of cell research, the ethical implications of scientific study, and the human story of a poor and ailing family whose matriarch contributed to some of 20th-century science’s greatest achievements.

You’ve likely heard of the MeToo movement, but you may not know where the phrase “me too” originated. In Unbound, award-winning activist Tarana Burke explores the pivotal role she played in founding the movement. Burke coined the phrase “me too” as a tool for healing from sexual violence based on her own journey of recovery via community connection, and she continues to work toward healing sexual violence in the Black community.

Our guide begins with a discussion of Burke’s experience of childhood sexual abuse. Next, we explore how community organizing helped Burke cope with her trauma and grow. Then, we consider the factors that led Burke to found the “me too” movement. Finally, we discuss how “me too” changed Burke’s life, explain how it relates to the MeToo hashtag, and describe Burke’s hopes for the movement’s future. In our commentary, we’ll provide more context about sexual violence and its intersection with racial injustice, explore both the original and the viral movements, and share other experts' advice on healing.

Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming delivers candid reflections on the life of the first African-American first lady. Offering a window into her personal evolution, Michelle details how ambition, hard work, and embracing her authentic story helped her journey from her family’s Chicago working-class neighborhood to a 47th-floor law office, then to the White House and beyond.

Becoming provides insights into Michelle’s self-determination: She pushed herself to excel in Ivy League classrooms and achieve a prestigious career by age 26, then mustered the courage to swerve off that path in search of greater fulfillment. It details her relationship with Barack—a love story of two opposites—and their challenging quest to navigate family and political life. Through it all, we witness a woman who perpetually strives to become a better version of herself.

Do you ever feel that there is a more authentic, primal self within you waiting to be free? Glennon Doyle has felt this way, too—like a wild animal in captivity who was conditioned not to feel, think, or trust herself. She tells her story in Untamed, part memoir—covering her personal story of addiction and rehab, falling in love with a woman, leaving her marriage, and rebuilding her life—and part call to action for any woman who feels held captive by society’s rules and expectations.

Through exploration of her story, she instructs readers to rebuild their lives using emotion, intuition, and imagination as guiding forces. In this guide, we’ll explore Doyle’s journey out of captivity and her lessons for other captive women. Along the way, we’ll explore complementary ideas from other feminist thinkers, psychological reasoning for aspects of captivity, and practical actionables to help you live Doyle’s principles.

In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell argues that what we often think of as disadvantages may actually be advantages, and that advantages of goliaths may turn into disadvantages. Gladwell shows us that underdog victories are less miraculous (and more achievable) than they seem, and sheds light on how we can reinterpret our own weaknesses to locate new sources of power.