The #BlackLivesMatter movement has become a media and political phenomenon, but, as Christopher J. Lebron points out in this book, it is part of an older and richer tradition arguing for the equal dignity of black people. Lebron lays out the genesis of the ideas that have built the movement, presenting a foundational blueprint of sorts that can help us make sense of the emotions, demands, and arguments of present-day activists and public thinkers as well as recastthe role of historical black thinkers in American life.