Bearing Witness While Black
African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism
Allissa V. Richardson
Reviews and Awards
Winner of the Frank Luther Mott/Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award for the Best Book on Journalism and Mass Communication Published in 2020
"Allissa Richardson's impeccably researched book provides an eye-opening account of how African American citizen-journalists have harnessed the power of cell phones and social media to document the deeply entrenched nature of anti-Black racism in the U.S. Impeccably researched and engagingly written, Bearing Witness While Black raises the bar for studying how ordinary people work for social justice in their everyday lives." -- Patricia Hill Collins, author of Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory
"This book weaves together compelling arguments about contemporary digital media use for racial justice activism, rich context about historical antecedents, and theoretical sophistication that enriches both theory and our understanding of digital witnessing. This is a rare combination for academic works, which makes Richardson's work unique and meritorious." -- Charlton D. McIlwain, author of Black Software
"Richardson offers a compelling inquiry into how activism and journalism work together for Black communities intent upon articulating the inequities of racial and civil discrimination. The author's careful work in interviewing significant figures in Black activism over the last half decade provide a substantial resource for scholars interested in hearing the voices of change." -- André Brock, author of Distributed Blackness