Black Forward

“For more than two decades, Roland S. Martin has been an unflinching voice in challenging Black America to move in a cohesive way to improve our standing. Black Forward is the book that we all must read, and then act on.”—Tyler Perry

"Few journalists, activists or media figures have spent time studying, listening to, and amplifying the voices of liberation-minded Black folk more than Roland Martin. Written by a veritable encyclopedia of political movements, institutions, and “the culture,” Martin has distilled decades of experience and knowledge into a manual informed by history, scholarship, and personal experience. Black Forward is more than just a book. It's an instruction manual for building systemic change and a road map to Black power."—Michael Harriot, New York Times bestselling author of Black AF History

“Roland S. Martin has spent years unearthing, archiving, and amplifying the stories of our people and the blueprints of our times with independence and intention.  Black Forward brings those years of studied listening to all of our eyes and ears—so we can use these blueprints to get free.  The only way is forward, and Roland is determined to help us get there.”—Brittany Packnett Cunningham, activist and host, Undistracted

"Black America is under attack. We all know it. In Black Forward, Roland S. Martin lays out our plan to fight back, together, and reminds us that we are undefeated when we do."—Elie Mystal, New York Times bestselling author of Allow Me to Retort and Bad Law

“Roland S. Martin understands both the power and potential of Black Americans to reconstruct a democracy that is not only better for us, but better for everyone. In the great tradition of Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells, he’s a journalist who tells the truth and makes it plain. The Bible says people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, but the opposite is also true: we are sustained and built up by the knowledge that brother Roland shares.”—Bishop William J. Barber, II, author of White Poverty and The Third Reconstruction

“There is a difference between being given a platform and building one. Roland S. Martin knows that difference because he has spent years building independent Black media, creating opportunities for others, and investing in infrastructure our communities can own and control. That experience runs through Black Forward, a challenge to stop confusing individual success with collective progress and public attention with actual power. Roland reminds us that our history is filled with institutions that made freedom struggles possible, and that our future depends on what we are willing to build together. This book is a call for strategy, accountability, and the kind of organized power that can outlast any one leader or political moment.”—Rashad Robinson, bestselling author of From Presence to Power