Prepare for a visit to AAMLO with these special topic resource guides.
This resource guide is intended to help users locate holdings at AAMLO related to police violence, mass incarceration, and abolition. Please also see the Oakland Public Library #BlackLivesMatter Resource Series for additional books, articles and videos to prompt discussion and action:
- Institutional Racism: History and Context
- Protest, Social Movements & Community Solutions
- Police Conduct, Race and the Justice System
- Talking to Kids About Racism and Justice
- Evaluating Children’s Books about Police
This resource guide highlights holdings in the following areas:
● Selected Library Material at AAMLO
● Selected Archival Collections at AAMLO
Other collections may contain relevant materials. Please contact AAMLO (aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org) with any questions or to schedule an appointment to view materials in person.
Selected Library Materials
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment edited by Angela J. Davis
Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis
Those Who Know Don't Say: the Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State by Garrett Felber
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.
Necropolitics: the Religious Crisis of Mass Incarceration in America by Christophe D. Ringer
Race to Incarcerate by The Sentencing Project
Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era by Dan Berger
Soledad Brother: the Prison Letters of George Jackson by George Jackson
Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women by Susan Burton
Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women in Prison edited by Paula C. Johnson
[Microfilm] FBI Investigation Files on:
- A. Philip Randolph
- Black Americans
- James Baldwin
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Malcolm X
- Marcus Garvey
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Paul Robeson
- Roy Wilkins
- Thurgood Marshall
"Law Never Here": a Social History of African American Responses to Issues of Crime and Justice edited by Frankie Y. Bailey
Community Policing and Crime: the Process and Impact of Problem-solving in Oakland [Rand Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (Organization). Public Safety and Justice Program]
Community Policing and Violence Prevention in Oakland: Measure Y in Action: Technical Report [Rand Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (Organization). Public Safety and Justice Program]
Public Report Review of BART PD Policies, Practices and Procedures Re: New Year's Day 2009 [Bay Area Rapid Transit District]
Selected Archival Collections
The Flatlands Newspaper Collection. The Flatlands newspaper was an independent newspaper printed in Oakland from 1966-1968[?] and focused on issues related to poverty, education, housing, police violence, and politics in East and West Oakland. The newspaper’s slogan was “tell it like it is and do what is needed” and advocated for government accountability and reform for those affected and displaced by housing developments and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). [View online]
Black Panther Black Community News Service Collection. The Black Panther Black Community News Service Collection consists of 420 newspapers published by the Black Panther Party between 1967-1980. Each issue was between 16-28 pages and featured a range of articles and op-eds on the activities of the party, Black power, police violence, communism, and party leadership. [Issues of the The Black Panther are available to view digitally on Alexander Street using your Oakland Public Library card]
Henry Williams Jr. Film Collection. Includes footage of Oakland High School (OHS) students and the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade of Berkeley protesting the murder of 14-year old Melvin Black in Oakland, California on March 23, 1979 by Oakland Police officers. On March 17, 1979, Melvin Black was shot by two Oakland Police Department officers after they confronted him in front of his apartment while responding to reports of a sniper. Civil rights attorney John L. Burris, appointed by then-mayor Lionel Wilson and the Oakland City Council to lead an independent investigation into Melvin Black's murder, credits the incident with launching his career. Burris' findings in September 1979 concluded the shooting was unjustified, leading to public outcry and the creation of a Citizens’ Police Review Board, one of the first of its kind in the nation, as a consequence of the investigation. [View online]
Charlesetta Braggs-Ford Papers / Savannah A. Van Dyke Bello Papers. In 1963 Braggs-Ford, together with Savannah A. Bello, founded the Richmond chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to address discriminatory practices in local housing and employment. The Braggs-Ford and Van Dyke Bello papers include reports, bulletins, correspondence, flyers, conference programs, and lists of Richmond CORE projects and a time line of events related to the history of the chapter. The Braggs-Ford collection also includes material related to regional CORE chapters and the national CORE organization.
Frances Albrier Papers. The papers of social activist Frances Albrier (1898-1987) include a printed report and statement from the Berkeley chapter of the NAACP to Berkeley City Council on police violence (circa 1960s). Included also is a transcript of a speech delivered by John Adams, Jr., "A Black man looks at the proposed amendment to the city charter for the community control of police in Berkeley" (circa 1970s).
Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers. The Ronald V. Dellums Congressional Papers are evidence of Dellums' 27-year career (1971-1998) as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. It includes committee files, constituent correspondence, legislative bills, and personal files relating to his work with criminal justice and prison reform:
- John L. Burris compilation of police violence reports in the Bay Area, 1991
- Prison Reform (undated)
- Prison slavery (undated)
- Soledad Prison papers (undated)
- West Virginia Correctional Industries (1990 and undated)
- H.R. 5222 Federal Prisons Industries (undated)
- H.R. 3603 Bill to limit use of prison inmates in medical research (1975-1976)
- H.R. 6689 Prisoner Rights (undated)
- H.R. 11882 Establish minimum prisoner treatment standards (undated)
- H.R. 16849 Prisoner Rights Act (undated)
- H.R. 3315 Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Reform Act (undated)
Barbara Lee Papers. The Barbara Lee Papers consist of legislative bills and working files, correspondence, speeches, constituent case files, audiovisual material, subject and administrative files documenting Barbara Lee’s six years as state assemblywoman for California’s 16th District, two years as a state senator for California’s 9th District, and records created by the California Commission on the Status of Black Males (CCSBM). Selected files include:
- Drafts and working files on prison reform legislation (undated)
- Administrative files on criminal justice advisory committees (undated)
- Reports on public health for the incarcerated (undated)
- Subject files on the Seeking Justice for the Imprisoned symposium (1997)
Carter Gilmore Papers. In 1977 Gilmore (1926-2006) became the first African American elected to the Oakland City Council. He served from 1977 to 1990, during which time he also acted as vice mayor to Lionel J. Wilson. Gilmore’s achievements on the City Council included creating a city anti-blight ordinance and leading the fight to establish the Citizens Police Review Board and the Housing, Residential Rent and Relocation Board. His work as chairman of the Oakland NAACP's labor and industry committee in the 1990s included leading the investigation of racial discrimination against African American employees at United Parcel Service.
W. Hazaiah Williams Papers. The papers of theologian, civil rights activist, and educator William Hazaiah Williams Jr. (1930-1999), include Connections, Inc. reports (circa 1970s) on "California’s Prisoners: Victims of the Adult Authority,” and “Prison Within a Prison : the Adjustment Center,” and the Legislative Black Caucus (Calif.) "Black Caucus Report on the Treatment of Prisoners at California Training Facility at Soledad Central."
Paula Beal Papers. Housing and food activist Paul Beal (1953-2016) began her work as a housing activist after working at the Oakland Independent Support Center, a non-profit serving the homeless and individuals with substance abuse issues. She was later active with a number of housing activist groups including Causa Justa:: Just Cause, Oakland Renters Union, and Oakland United Coalition following the wave of displacement and gentrification in Oakland, California in the early 2010s. In addition to documenting her work with various activist groups, the Beale papers include a 2010 resource directory for the formerly incarcerated serving the greater East Bay, as well as flyers and brochures related to All of Us or None: A Project of Legal Services for Prisoners With Children and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners projects.
Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection. The records included within this collection trace the histories of three different associations of colored women's clubs: the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs; and the National Council of Negro Women. Records within the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs include a report on the establishment of a Department of Prison and Parole headed by Bertha Allen, State Superintendent of Prison and Parole. [View online]
Maxine and Roy C. Blackburn Papers. An Oakland native, Roy C. Blackburn joined the Oakland Police Department in 1943 and worked as an administrator in the jail division for 27 years. In 1968, he won a special award for streamlining the bail-out process. He retired from the Oakland police force in 1970. Blackburn's civic activities and as a member of the Oakland Police Department are documented in newspaper clippings and pamphlets.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Audiovisual Collection. Includes VHS copies of the KTVU Mornings on 2 segment on Oakland’s reaction to Rodney King case verdict.
African American Museum & Library at Oakland Vertical File Collection. Selected items include:
- Work meeting flyers, correspondence, and other material related to the Free Angela Davis movement
- Free all political prisoners and Free Huey rally flyers, circa 1968
- "A Letter from Prison from H. Rap Brown," February 21, 1968
- Alert! Northwest Berkeley for Community Control newsletters
- Copwatch reports from 1990-1992
- "Stop police terror rally and march at Lakeside Park" flyer, 1979
- "Black people are a nation behind bars community meeting" flyer, 1979
- "Garvey Institute and The Black House presents the Black prison poet speak out," 1973
- St. Paul A.M.E. Church (Berkeley, Calif.) "Black community forum on model cities and police shootings" program, August 9, 1969
- and many others
Additional Information
Search the library using the catalog.
Consult AAMLO's finding aids in the Online Archive of California.
We are working to create new resource guides. Have an idea for a new guide? Contact us at aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org.
