LibGuides: Activism: Activism Through Art

Books at Gumberg

Print Books: (Follow the links to find out more about the books!)

The Hip Hop and Obama Reader by Travis L. Gosa (Editor); Erik Nielson (Editor)
Call Number: ML3531 .H54 2015
Barack Obama flipped the script on more than three decades of conventional wisdom when he openly embraced hip hop - often regarded as politically radioactive - in his presidential campaigns. Just as important was the extent to which hip hop artists and activists embraced him in return. This new relationship fundamentally altered the dynamics between popular culture, race, youth, and national politics.
A People's Art History of the United States: 250 years of activist art and artists working in social justice movements by Nicolas Lampert
Call Number: eBook
A People's Art History of the United States starts at the bottom and places art and the history thereof squarely in the rough-and-tumble of politics, social struggles and the fight for justice from the colonial era through the present day. The book spans the conquest of the Americas, the American Revolution, slavery and abolition, women's suffrage and feminism, civil rights and much more.
Poetic Community: avant-garde activism and Cold War culture by Stephen Voyce
Call Number: eBook
In contrast with prevailing critical tendencies that read mid-century poetry in terms of expressive modes of individualism, Poetic Community demonstrates that the most important literary innovations of the post-war period were the results of intensive collaboration and social action opposing the Cold War's ideological enclosures.

eBooks: (Note: You will have to enter your MultiPass credentials to access these off-campus.)

Activism and the American Novel by Channette Romero
Call Number: eBook
Since the 1980s, many activists and writers have turned from identity politics toward ethnic religious traditions to rediscover and reinvigorate their historic role in resistance to colonialism and oppression.
Adjusted Margin: xerography, art, and activism in the late twentieth century by Kate Eichhorn
Call Number: eBook
This is the story of how the xerographic copier, or "Xerox machine," became a creative medium for artists and activists during the last few decades of the twentieth century.

Use these subjects in any of our databases or DUQSearch to find books, articles, and more! (Note: We've recommended a few databases below!)

Note: If you see a book you'd like to read while exploring the links below, try DUQSearch to see if we have it. If not, use ez-borrow!

Art and Activism Guide (Maryland Institute College of Art)
Resources on general art, photography, filmmaking, and more!
Some Zine Collections
Compiled by the University of Texas Libraries
Music Quick Guide: Social Justice
Explore music-related resources on protests, labor, LGBT, 1960s, race, and women from MIT Libraries.
TED: Powerful Art Activism Playlist
TED has compiled a playlist of its art and activism-related talks.
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
CSPG is a "non-profit educational and research archive that collects, preserves, documents, and circulates domestic and international political posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for social change." - Wikipedia
Hip Hop and Activism Research Guide
From California State Polytechnic University at Ponoma

Picasso's Guernica, his famous anti-war piece. Source: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sinclair wrote The Jungle to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in Chicago and similar industrialized cities.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

"We Will Overcome" was the rallying cry of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.