Description
The life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother that changed community activism foreverand sparked the ongoing movement against racist policing and brutality
#SayHerName: The story of Eleanor Bumpurs, told for the first time by decorated historian and Bumpurss former neighbor LaShawn Harris
On October 29, 1984, 66-year-old beloved Black disabled grandmother Eleanor Bumpurs was murdered in her own home. A public housing tenant 4 months behind on rent, Ms. Bumpurs was facing eviction when white NYPD officer Stephen Sullivan shot her twice with a 12-gauge shotgun. LaShawn Harris, 10 years old at the time, felt the aftershocks of the tragedy in her community well beyond the four walls of her home across the street.
Now an award-winning historian, Harris uses eyewitness accounts, legal documents, civil rights pamphlets, and more to look through the lens of her childhood neighbors life and death. She renders in a new light the history of anti-Black police violence and of the watershed anti-policing movement Eleanor Bumpurss murder birthed.
So many Black womens lives have been stolen sinceDeborah Danner, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Sonya Masseyand still more are on the line. This deeply researched, intimate portrait of Eleanor Bumpurss life and legacy highlights how one Black grandmothers brutal police murder galvanized an entire city. It also shows how possible and critical it is to stand together against racist policing now.
Author: Lashawn Harris
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 08/26/2025
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9780807011966
Language: English
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