It’s Black History Month in the United States, and right now, it feels like one of the most important times to talk about the history of fighting prejudice. We’ve been discussing what’s happening in the U.S. a lot lately (because honestly, how could we not?) When things feel this heavy, it can be hard to think about much else.

And truly, it’s heartbreaking that we’re still here.

It’s horrifying that, in 2026, we’re still watching another resurgence of racism and organized prejudice trying to rebrand themselves as “common sense.” It’s devastating that people are still being targeted for their identity, their body, their voice, or simply their existence. 

But Black history makes one thing undeniably clear: oppressive systems don’t collapse because they get tired. They collapse because people organize, disrupt, protect each other, and refuse to accept the lie that cruelty is inevitable.

So we want to take a look at just a few examples of the incredible work done by Black civil rights activists throughout the last couple of centuries. Because when we look at their stories, we see more than courage. We see what actually moved the needle: how communities built pressure, built networks, changed the narrative, and made oppression too costly to maintain.

Black freedom movements have never been easy, and the backlash has always been real. But they offer something we urgently need right now: a blueprint for resisting fascism and protecting each other through the fight.

1) Abolitionism + Black Self-Emancipation (1800s): Freedom Was Taken, Not Handed Over

If there’s one lesson we should never forget from Black history, it’s this: freedom has never been something oppressed people were politely invited into. It was demanded, fought for, and often seized under impossible conditions.

In the 1800s, abolitionism and Black-led self-emancipation didn’t just help end slavery in the United States. They shattered the cultural “normalcy” of slavery by forcing the country to confront what it actually was: a brutal, violent system built for profit. The 13th Amendment in 1865 made chattel slavery illegal, but the deeper shift was this: slavery could no longer pretend to be respectable, or part of the “natural order.”

Enslaved people didn’t wait. They moved.

One of the most important truths we’re taught to overlook is that enslaved people didn’t simply “receive” freedom. They destabilized slavery from the inside. They ran. They resisted. They sabotaged. They organized. They refused to cooperate with their own dehumanization, even when the punishment was unthinkable.

Especially during the Civil War, mass flight and resistance forced slavery into crisis. Yes, many allies helped slaves escape. But thousands of black people chose the unrealistically brave action of leaving the system they had been forced into. The system couldn’t function when the people it depended on for labor were actively escaping, refusing, and undermining it. 

They fought with truth, too.

Abolition wasn’t only won through physical resistance. It was also won through what we might call narrative warfare: the deliberate destruction of the lie that slavery was “benevolent,” “civilizing,” or anything other than terror.

Formerly enslaved people like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs used testimony, writing, and public speaking to make the truth unavoidable. They didn’t allow the public to look away. And that’s a major reason abolitionist pressure spread. Because once people can no longer claim ignorance, they have to pick a side.

Abolitionists built networks across states and even internationally, turning slavery into something the U.S. couldn’t keep defending without consequence. Slavery became a political liability, instead of an “economic gain.” That kind of pressure matters because power rarely moves for compassion alone. It moves when it becomes too costly not to.

What Abolitionism & Self-Emancipation Teaches Us About Fighting Fascism Today

1) Freedom isn’t granted. It’s forced.

Fascism thrives on obedience, exhaustion, and the belief that resistance is pointless. Abolition teaches the opposite: systems collapse when people make them expensive to maintain. When oppression becomes unstable, when it can’t run smoothly, when it stops being profitable or socially acceptable, it starts to crack.

2) Controlling the story is power.

Authoritarian movements don’t just use violence. They use narrative. They rewrite reality until cruelty sounds reasonable and human rights sound “radical.” Abolitionists understood something we still need to understand now: the story is part of the battlefield. Truth-telling is not optional. Because when the truth is loud enough, it becomes harder for the world to pretend it doesn’t see what’s happening.

2) The NAACP Legal Strategy Era (1909–1950s): Using the System Against Itself

Not every fight is a march; sometimes, the battlefield is paperwork. The slow, grinding machinery of a legal system that was never designed to protect Black people in the first place.

From the early 1900s through the 1950s, the NAACP and individuals like Charles Hamilton Houston spent decades chipping away at segregation through the courts. One of the most famous victories of this strategy was Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

This era of fighting in the courtroom didn’t create the entire Civil Rights Movement on its own, but it did something essential: it weakened the legal foundation that segregation stood on, so that later mass movements could hit harder and win bigger.

Strategic litigation: choosing battles that change the rules

The NAACP chose strategic litigation: carefully selecting cases that could set legal precedents and ripple outward. The goal wasn’t just to win for one person or one community, though those wins mattered deeply. The goal was to change the legal logic that upheld segregation and to pull out one support beam at a time until the structure started to wobble.

The NAACP’s courtroom strategy also focused on the ecosystem of justice. It involved lawyers, plaintiffs willing to risk everything, communities backing them, donors funding the work, and organizers supporting families who became targets simply for demanding basic rights.

This era also teaches something that can be hard to sit with: meaningful change is often painfully slow. Legal strategy required long-game planning and moved forward incrementally with each win. But those wins stacked. And eventually, the “common sense” of segregation began to look more and more like what it always was: state-sponsored cruelty.

What The Legal Strategy Era Can Teach Us About Fighting Fascism Today

1) Use the system against itself when possible, but don’t confuse court wins with safety.

Legal victories matter. They can buy time, and they can set a precedent. But as we’re well aware, fascism is perfectly comfortable ignoring laws when it has enough power. So yes, fight in court. But don’t stop there. Use it as part of the foundation that can build the future we want to see.

2) Legal strategy works best when paired with mass pressure.

The most powerful legal wins happen when public pressure makes injustice impossible to defend. In other words, courtrooms are one front. Organizing, mutual aid, protest, community care, and political action are others. And when those fronts work together, that’s when systems start to break.

3) The Mass Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968): Disruption With Discipline

When people think of the Civil Rights Movement, this is usually the era they picture: boycotts, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, mass marches, and voter registration drives that changed the shape of America. But what often gets sanitized out of the story is that the movement wasn’t just asking for rights. It was forcing the country into a crisis it couldn’t ignore, and that’s why it worked.

This era succeeded because it combined two things that authoritarian systems fear most: 

1. Moral clarity: the unmistakable truth that segregation was unjust.

2. Material disruption: the economic and political pressure that made it costly to continue. 

It forced the federal government into a public choice: treat individuals fairly, or openly uphold racism.

Between 1955 and 1968, Black organizers and their allies pushed the U.S. government into passing landmark legislation, including:

• The Civil Rights Act (1964), which ended legal segregation in public spaces and targeted employment discrimination.
  
  

• The Voting Rights Act (1965), which directly challenged voter suppression tactics designed to keep Black people politically powerless.
  
  

• The Fair Housing Act (1968), which targeted housing discrimination that had shaped generational wealth and safety.

Nonviolent mass disruption: hitting the system where it hurts

Nonviolence in this era wasn’t about being quiet, polite, or palatable. It was about strategic disruption with intention. Sit-ins didn’t just “raise awareness.” They interrupted business as usual. Boycotts didn’t just “send a message.” They targeted economic choke points and forced businesses and cities to feel the cost of segregation. The movement understood that power doesn’t respond to morality; it responds when the status quo becomes too expensive to maintain.

Media strategy: forcing the country to watch

This era also used media brilliantly. Activists understood that the U.S. could ignore Black suffering as long as it stayed invisible, so they made it visible. When peaceful protesters were beaten, attacked by dogs, or assaulted by mobs, the point wasn’t to “look like victims.” The point was to expose the system’s violence in full daylight, forcing the state to show its true face.

Decentralized organizing: local roots, national reach

Another key to this era’s success was decentralized organizing. The movement wasn’t one leader and a microphone. It was thousands of people, in countless communities, doing consistent work. Local groups knew their towns. National organizations amplified the pressure. Strategies moved across states like wildfire, but the roots stayed local.

Voter power: building leverage, not just visibility

The movement also understood that protest without political leverage can be ignored. So alongside marches and demonstrations, there was a relentless push for voter registration and political power. The goal wasn’t simply to be heard but to be impossible to dismiss.

What the Civil Rights Movement Teaches Us About Fighting Fascism Today

1) Peaceful doesn’t mean passive.

A common myth is that nonviolent resistance means “be nice.” That’s not what this movement did. It was organized, strategic, and intentionally disruptive. The goal is to put out roadblocks big enough that “business as usual” is no longer possible. When society and businesses stop being able to function, it creates real pressure that must be addressed. 

2) Fascist movements fear unity, legitimacy loss, and instability.

Authoritarianism depends on people feeling isolated, powerless, and resigned. It also relies on people believing in its propaganda and agenda. This era shows how, when people move together, publicly and consistently, it becomes harder for a regime to maintain legitimacy.

3) Voting is necessary, not sufficient.

Voting still matters. But voting alone doesn’t stop fascism, especially when authoritarian movements are actively rewriting election rules, suppressing voters, and consolidating power. So it’s important to keep fighting for political power, but it’s even more essential to pair that with as many decentralized actions as possible that create political pressure.

4) The Black Power Movement (late 1960s–1970s): Mutual Aid Is Survival

If the Mass Civil Rights era was about forcing America to stop pretending segregation was acceptable, the Black Power movement was about something even deeper: What does freedom actually look like when the law says you’re “equal,” but the world still treats you like a target?

Because legal rights don’t automatically create safety. They don’t guarantee food, housing, healthcare, or protection from state violence. And Black organizers knew that if the system wasn’t going to keep them alive, then the community would have to.

Community survival programs: meeting needs while building power

One of the most revolutionary strategies of the Black Power era was the creation of community survival programs: free breakfast programs for children, health clinics, mutual aid networks, and community education. It sent a clear message: we are not waiting for permission to take care of each other. And it built resilience and infrastructure that helped communities withstand the constant pressure of racism.

Self-determination: reclaiming identity as a form of resistance

The Black Power movement also fought a battle that can be hard to quantify, but impossible to overstate: the fight for self-definition. Instead of accepting narratives imposed by white supremacy, Black communities asserted that they would decide what liberation means for themselves.

That cultural shift changed everything, from politics to art to education. It created a framework where dignity wasn’t something you had to earn from the oppressor. It was something you already deserved.

Local political organizing: power lives close to home

This era also leaned hard into local organizing: school boards, city councils, community groups, and neighborhood institutions. Because the truth is, a lot of oppression doesn’t come from Washington. It comes from your local police budget. Your local school policies. Your local housing decisions. The Black Power movement understood that if you want real safety, you have to organize where you live.

What The Black Power Movement Teaches Us About Fighting Fascism Today

1) Mutual aid is not optional. 

Fascism thrives when people are isolated and desperate. Mutual aid interrupts that. It keeps people housed, fed, informed, and connected. And connected and cared-for people are harder to control.

2) When the state becomes hostile, community must become organized.

If institutions become unsafe, the answer isn’t to “hope for the best.” The answer is to build networks that can respond quickly, protect vulnerable people, and provide real support.

3) Culture is part of the fight.

Authoritarianism doesn’t just attack laws. It attacks identity. It tries to define who is “normal,” who is “dangerous,” and who deserves rights. Self-definition is resistance, because when people know who they are and know they deserve dignity, they become much harder to dehumanize.

5) The Black Lives Matter Movement (2013–present): Real-Time Pressure

The Movement for Black Lives isn’t just shifting a conversation; it’s changed the political landscape. Beginning in 2013, and surging globally in the years that followed, this movement made police violence impossible to dismiss as “isolated incidents” or “bad apples.” It forced the world to name what was happening: state violence, systemic racism, and the everyday reality of being treated as disposable.

What it’s changing: language, policy, and the public’s tolerance for denial

This movement is pushing reforms in many cities: body camera policies, updated use-of-force rules, changes to police funding, and public debates that used to be unthinkable. And every once in a while, it even leads to police officers being held legally accountable for harming the very communities they were supposed to protect, something that would have been far less likely in earlier decades.

It’s also shifting the public language around racism, and reminding people that it’s a current issue, not a historical one. Terms like systemic racism moved from academic circles into everyday conversation. And once people have language for injustice, it becomes harder to gaslight them into silence.

Networked organizing: decentralized, fast mobilization 

Similar to movements of the past, one of the defining strategies of this era has been networked organizing. Instead of relying on a single figurehead, organizing moves through networks, local groups, and decentralized leadership. This allowed movements to mobilize quickly, respond to crises in real time, and remain harder to dismantle through intimidation or targeted repression.

Digital storytelling: video evidence and rapid narrative framing

This era also introduced something new to the civil rights playbook: the camera as a witness.

Video evidence, paired with rapid narrative framing online, changed what could be denied. The narrative battlefield is no longer slow. It’s instantaneous, and truth and propaganda now compete in the same hour, on the same feed. It also changes how quickly people can organize, fundraise, and respond. 

Local policy focus: the biggest wins are often closest to home

While national conversations matter, many of the most tangible victories have happened at the city and county level: local policy changes, district attorney races, budget debates, school board decisions, and community-led pressure campaigns.

What The Black Lives Matter Movement Teaches Us About Fighting Fascism Today

1) The narrative battlefield is now real-time.

Authoritarian movements don’t wait weeks to spin a story. They do it in minutes. Which means we have to get sharper, faster, and more coordinated about telling the truth.

2) Decentralization can protect movements, but it makes long-term strategy harder.

Leaderless movements can be resilient, but they can also struggle to sustain momentum, unify messaging, and build long-term infrastructure. The lesson here isn’t “pick one model.” It’s: build networks that can move fast AND structures that can hold steady.

3) Local politics matter more than people think.

If you want to protect your community, pay attention to who controls the local police budget, who runs the courts, who makes school policy, who decides housing rules, etc. People at the local level affect your community in real time, so make sure you’re adding your voice to these systems.

What Strategies Worked in Black Rights Movements to Fight Oppressive Power

One of the most effective lessons we can learn from the powerful history of past civil rights movements is to use a “pressure stack,” meaning you don’t rely on just one tactic to create change. They layered strategies until the power balance was shifted.

When power is challenged socially, economically, politically, and culturally all at the same time, authoritarian systems start to crack under the weight of sustained, coordinated resistance. Black history teaches us the takeaways of what strategies helped create change:

1) Disruption (economic, political & social)

If nothing is disrupted, power has no incentive to change. Movements win when they interrupt business as usual.

2) Build parallel support systems

Mutual aid, legal defense funds, community safety networks, and reliable information channels are not optional.

3) Protect targeted people first

Authoritarianism tests violence on the most vulnerable groups. If you defend them early, you break the momentum.

4) Legitimacy attacks

Expose hypocrisy and publicize the truth. Make oppression indefensible. Force the “moderate middle” to stop pretending neutrality is harmless.

5) Organization

Movements are built on meetings, training, logistics, safety planning, and consistent leadership. Not just viral posts.

6) Don’t let them isolate you

Isolation is a fascist superpower. Community is the antidote.

7) Institution-building

Schools. Newspapers. Clinics. Unions. Mutual aid. Legal funds.
The work that keeps people alive long after the headlines move on.

8) Coalition without dilution

Allies matter. Coalitions matter. But leadership by the people experiencing oppression stayed central, and the purpose stayed clear.

We’re In This Together

If there’s one thing Black history teaches us, it’s that oppression is never the end of the story.

Over and over again, Black communities have faced systems designed to erase them, silence them, and control them. And over and over again, they have proven something powerful: organized people with hope can outlast organized hate.

That doesn’t mean the path is easy. It doesn’t mean progress is permanent. And it definitely doesn’t mean we’re safe just because a law exists on paper. Every era we’ve talked about came with backlash, violence, and attempts to roll victories back. But Black freedom movements also show us what makes resistance durable: truth-telling, strategy, community care, and relentless pressure applied from every direction.

And that’s where hope lives.

Hope isn’t passive. Hope is not a vibe. Hope is what happens when people show up for each other anyway. When we build networks that keep people fed, housed, informed, and protected. When we refuse to be isolated. When we vote, organize, disrupt, tell the truth, and keep going, even when it’s exhausting.

Thanks For Being Here

At Origami Customs, we believe in community care. We believe safety is something we build together. We believe that no one is free until we’re all free. And we believe that liberation is not a single moment; it’s a practice.

Black history doesn’t just remind us what we’re up against. It reminds us what’s possible. So thanks for sticking with us during these absolutely ridiculous times. Hopefully, our resources are able to give you just a little bit of hope and remind you that you’re not alone. We’re in this together. 

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