Protest Literature has existed in different forms throughout literary history. Some of the greatest writers in history have employed their talents toward awakening the public to injustices locally and world-wide.
1. The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Great Social Protest Lit.
by Upton Sinclair, Edward Sagarin (Editor), and Albert Teichner (Editor). Barricade Books. From the publisher: "Contained in this volume are many of the most stirring, thought-provoking and incisive writings on the struggle of humanity against social injustice ever written. Contributors include Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Euripides, Dante, Zola, and Tolstoy."
2. Walden and Civil Disobedience: A New Riverside Edition
by Henry David Thoreau. Houghton Mifflin Company. Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" influenced writers and activists from around the world: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary Wilkins Freeman, and others. Read background material related to Thoreau's famous contributions to literature.3. Poems, Protest and a Dream: Selected Writings
by Sor Juana Ines de Cruz, and Margaret Sayers Peden (Translator). Penguin. From the publisher: "Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-1695) wrote her most famous prose work, 'La Respuesta a Sor Filotea,' in 1691 in response to her bishop's injunction against her intellectual pursuits."4. Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African American
by Richard Newman (Editor), Phillip Lapsansky (Editor), and Patrick Rael (Editor). Routledge. From the publisher: "Between the Revolution and the Civil War, African-American writing became a prominent feature of both black protest culture and American public life. Although denied a political voice in national affairs, black authors produced a wide range of literature."5. The Magnificent Activist: The Writings of Thomas Wentworth Higginson
by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Howard N. Meyer (Editor). De Capo. From the publisher: "The extraordinary writings of one of the most vigorous, effective-and overlooked-shapers of American history, and the rediscovery of an American visionary Thomas Wentworth Higginson is little known today..."6. Margery Kempe's Dissenting Fictions
by Lynn S. Johnson. Pennsylvania State University Press. Here, Lynn Johnson offers her evidence that The Book of Margery Kempe is fiction, in a reshaping of society.7. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Frederick Douglass, William L. Andrews (Editor), William S. McFeely (Editor). From the publisher: "Upon its publication in 1845, 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself' became an immediate best-seller." Along with the text, find "Contexts" and "Criticism."8. Literature and Society
by Pamela J. Annas, and Robert C. Rosen. Prentice Hall. From the publisher: "An enriching introduction to the diverse and exciting world of literature, this anthology offers a broad collection of short fiction, poetry, drama and nonfiction selections written by a diverse group of writers who represent different social classes, races, genders, cultures, and sexual orientations."9. Touching Liberty
by Karen Sánchez-Eppler. University of California Press. From the publisher: The author "charts how bodily difference came to be recognized as a central problem for both political and literary expression..." Her study includes anti-slavery fiction, slave narratives, and the lyric poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson.10. Revising Wilde: Society and Subversion in the Plays of Oscar Wilde
by Sos Eltis. Oxford University Press. From the publisher: "A radical re-examination of Oscar Wilde's plays, 'Revising Wilde' challenges long-established views of the writer as a dilettante and dandy, revealing him instead as a serious philosopher and social critic who used his plays to subvert the traditional values of Victorian literature and society."