LaShawn Harris
@madameclair08.bsky.social
Bronx Raised | Historian | Writer | Prof | Author of Author of Sex Workers, Psychics, & Numbers Runners (University of Illinois Press, 2016)
Pinned
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
40+ years after Eleanor Bumpurs’ death, the public continues to remember her. Her daughter, Mary, says the legacy of her case is to keep her spirit moving. To let people know what happened to her. @madameclair08.bsky.social
More than 40 years after police killed Eleanor Bumpurs in her Bronx apartment, people still #sayhername
The 1984 shooting death of a Black grandmother in her Bronx apartment sparked an ongoing movement against police brutality and neglect of the mentally ill.
buff.ly
November 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
40+ years after Eleanor Bumpurs’ death, the public continues to remember her. Her daughter, Mary, says the legacy of her case is to keep her spirit moving. To let people know what happened to her. @madameclair08.bsky.social
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
#OTD 41 years ago, Eleanor Bumpurs, a Black woman with mental health challenges, was killed by the NYPD. Her death still drives calls for police accountability. Historian Ashley Farmer, Bumpurs’ former neighbor, explores why people continue to #SayHerName. buff.ly/j8S3oQP
More than 40 years after police killed Eleanor Bumpurs in her Bronx apartment, people still #sayhername
The 1984 murder of a Black grandmother in her Bronx apartment sparked an ongoing movement against police brutality and neglect of the mentally ill.
buff.ly
October 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
#OTD 41 years ago, Eleanor Bumpurs, a Black woman with mental health challenges, was killed by the NYPD. Her death still drives calls for police accountability. Historian Ashley Farmer, Bumpurs’ former neighbor, explores why people continue to #SayHerName. buff.ly/j8S3oQP
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Even before police officers went into Eleanor Bumpurs’s house on #TDIH in 1984, she had already been harmed by the city. They did not give her adequate psychiatric services. They did not give her municipal services. @madameclair08.bsky.social
Democracy for Sale w/ LaShawn Harris | Crooked Media
crooked.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Even before police officers went into Eleanor Bumpurs’s house on #TDIH in 1984, she had already been harmed by the city. They did not give her adequate psychiatric services. They did not give her municipal services. @madameclair08.bsky.social
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
In this edition of Prisons, Prose & Protest, I review a beautiful new book about Eleanor Bumpurs. I recommend a great new season of the One Million Experiments podcast, several good recent articles and essays, and more…
October 9, 2025 at 1:18 AM
In this edition of Prisons, Prose & Protest, I review a beautiful new book about Eleanor Bumpurs. I recommend a great new season of the One Million Experiments podcast, several good recent articles and essays, and more…
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
“Like many New Yorkers, she [Eleanor Bumpurs] witnessed the ravages of Reaganomics on working-class and poor people, including her own family.” — @madameclair08.bsky.social
LaShawn Harris, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" (Beacon, 2025) - New Books Network
Support H-Net | Buy Books Here | Join the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!
buff.ly
September 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM
“Like many New Yorkers, she [Eleanor Bumpurs] witnessed the ravages of Reaganomics on working-class and poor people, including her own family.” — @madameclair08.bsky.social
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
In a time before viral videos and hashtags, activists and cultural critics invoked Eleanor Bumpurs when talking about police brutality. @madameclair08.bsky.social has written the first ever biography about her, TELL HER STORY. @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social
Read Your Resistance: A Tribute to Black Women Activists - Chicago Review of Books
Fall is a time for restart and renewal; a reconnection to routines gleefully abandoned during summer. It is also the busiest season for the publishing of “big” books by “big” authors—like the person…
buff.ly
September 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
In a time before viral videos and hashtags, activists and cultural critics invoked Eleanor Bumpurs when talking about police brutality. @madameclair08.bsky.social has written the first ever biography about her, TELL HER STORY. @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
I got an advanced copy of this book and it is EXCELLENT. Happy Publication Day, LaShawn!
"This [eviction] was never a thing for the police to get involved with. What were they going to do, put her in the street?"
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
The Fatal Eviction of Eleanor Bumpurs
In her new book "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City," history professor LaShawn Harris shares the full story of Bumpurs's life and death.
hellgatenyc.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:35 PM
I got an advanced copy of this book and it is EXCELLENT. Happy Publication Day, LaShawn!
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City by LaShawn Harris. (@madameclair08.bsky.social)
link to publisher's web page:
www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
link to publisher's web page:
www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
![Tell Her Story
Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City
By LaShawn Harris
“[An] immersive account . . . With a kaleidoscopic view of the shooting’s aftermath that draws on interviews, court proceedings, and national and international reactions, Harris paints the killing as a major turning point in American political consciousness, when Black activists and the public began to question police treatment of the disabled and mentally ill. The result is an elegantly written and riveting view of a pivotal but little-remembered political sea change.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
“Harris’s impeccably researched and elegantly written volume brings new visibility to this significant story.”
—Ms. Magazine
“An excellent study of the 1980s that captures the heart and soul of the social movements that foreshadowed calls to ‘Say her name.’ A timely and necessary book.”
—Marcia Chatelain, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America
“A powerful and poignant rescuing of the life and tragic murder of Eleanor Bumpurs . . . will both haunt and inspire. . . . Her searing narrative reminds us that this nation’s too-regular and brutal police killings of Black women have always been met by extraordinary family and community mobilization, and the demand for justice.”
—Heather Ann Thompson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
“A gripping historical rendition of the tumultuous transition from the hope of the civil rights era to the misguided projections of a presumed post-racial Obama era . . . It is an absolute must-read.”
—Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership
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August 27, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City by LaShawn Harris. (@madameclair08.bsky.social)
link to publisher's web page:
www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
link to publisher's web page:
www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
@madameclair08.bsky.social was only 10 yrs old when her neighbor, Eleanor Bumpurs, was shot dead by an NYPD officer. Harris was drawn to her life story because she’d grown up hearing Bumpurs mentioned in hip hop and Spike Lee films.
LaShawn Harris - 8.11.25 Wake Up With WURD w/ Solomon Jones
Author LaShawn Harris joins the show. She talks to us about her new book: "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City".
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 6:26 PM
@madameclair08.bsky.social was only 10 yrs old when her neighbor, Eleanor Bumpurs, was shot dead by an NYPD officer. Harris was drawn to her life story because she’d grown up hearing Bumpurs mentioned in hip hop and Spike Lee films.
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
30 years after Eleanor Bumpurs’s death, New Yorkers and those beyond the Empire State continue to #SayHerName. Today’s activists remember her and have introduced her tragic story to new generations of social justice advocates. @madameclair08.bsky.social buff.ly/yzJe3fe
The Enduring Legacy of Eleanor Bumpurs, Murdered by the NYPD For Resisting Eviction
I spent summer 2017 mustering the courage to contact Mary Bumpurs. Toward the end of that summer, I stood outside Mary’s apartment, hoping she would not slam the door in my face or give me a tongue…
lithub.com
August 28, 2025 at 1:13 PM
30 years after Eleanor Bumpurs’s death, New Yorkers and those beyond the Empire State continue to #SayHerName. Today’s activists remember her and have introduced her tragic story to new generations of social justice advocates. @madameclair08.bsky.social buff.ly/yzJe3fe
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Who was Eleanor Bumpers before her fatal encounter with the NYPD on October 29, 1984? @madameclair08.bsky.social wrote TELL HER STORY to uncover Bumpers’s personal history, her dreams and aspirations, who she was as a mother and neighbor.
LaShawn Harris - 8.11.25 Wake Up With WURD w/ Solomon Jones
Author LaShawn Harris joins the show. She talks to us about her new book: "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City".
buff.ly
August 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Who was Eleanor Bumpers before her fatal encounter with the NYPD on October 29, 1984? @madameclair08.bsky.social wrote TELL HER STORY to uncover Bumpers’s personal history, her dreams and aspirations, who she was as a mother and neighbor.
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
@madameclair08.bsky.social’s TELL HER STORY shows how Eleanor Bumpers’s assassination in 1984 set off a movement against police violence. And it’s on @msmagazine.com’s new August books roundup! 🤩
August 2025 Reads for the Rest of Us
The best feminist books written by women, Black, brown, AAPI, LGBTQ, Native, disabled, trans, nonbinary writers in August 2025.
buff.ly
August 21, 2025 at 6:26 PM
@madameclair08.bsky.social’s TELL HER STORY shows how Eleanor Bumpers’s assassination in 1984 set off a movement against police violence. And it’s on @msmagazine.com’s new August books roundup! 🤩
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Through her own personal connection with Eleanor Bumpurs, @madameclair08.bsky.social recounts and honors this #SayHerName memory in TELL HER STORY. And it comes out tomorrow!
August Reads by Black Authors
From a champion boxer’s memoir to untold history, romance, poetry, and children’s tales, these August releases by Black authors deserve a spot on your list.
buff.ly
August 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Through her own personal connection with Eleanor Bumpurs, @madameclair08.bsky.social recounts and honors this #SayHerName memory in TELL HER STORY. And it comes out tomorrow!
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
The @karenhunter.bsky.social show welcomes Award-Winning Historian; Author of "TELL HER STORY: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing that Galvanized New York City" – Available Tomorrow! : LaShawn Harris!
@madameclair08.bsky.social #MotivationalMonday #KarenRebels
@madameclair08.bsky.social #MotivationalMonday #KarenRebels
August 25, 2025 at 8:13 PM
The @karenhunter.bsky.social show welcomes Award-Winning Historian; Author of "TELL HER STORY: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing that Galvanized New York City" – Available Tomorrow! : LaShawn Harris!
@madameclair08.bsky.social #MotivationalMonday #KarenRebels
@madameclair08.bsky.social #MotivationalMonday #KarenRebels
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
"Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City"
www.amazon.com/Tell-Her-Sto...
@karenhunter.bsky.social @madameclair08.bsky.social #KarenRebels
www.amazon.com/Tell-Her-Sto...
@karenhunter.bsky.social @madameclair08.bsky.social #KarenRebels
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City
Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City [Harris, LaShawn] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City
www.amazon.com
August 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
"Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City"
www.amazon.com/Tell-Her-Sto...
@karenhunter.bsky.social @madameclair08.bsky.social #KarenRebels
www.amazon.com/Tell-Her-Sto...
@karenhunter.bsky.social @madameclair08.bsky.social #KarenRebels
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Happy #PubDay, @madameclair08.bsky.social! 🎉
TELL HER STORY, the life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, that changed community activism forever, is “an immersive account.” — @publisherswkly.bsky.social, ⭐Starred Review buff.ly/DnytLvf
TELL HER STORY, the life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, that changed community activism forever, is “an immersive account.” — @publisherswkly.bsky.social, ⭐Starred Review buff.ly/DnytLvf
August 26, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Happy #PubDay, @madameclair08.bsky.social! 🎉
TELL HER STORY, the life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, that changed community activism forever, is “an immersive account.” — @publisherswkly.bsky.social, ⭐Starred Review buff.ly/DnytLvf
TELL HER STORY, the life and 1984 murder of a beloved Black grandmother, Eleanor Bumpers, that changed community activism forever, is “an immersive account.” — @publisherswkly.bsky.social, ⭐Starred Review buff.ly/DnytLvf
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
"This [eviction] was never a thing for the police to get involved with. What were they going to do, put her in the street?"
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
The Fatal Eviction of Eleanor Bumpurs
In her new book "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City," history professor LaShawn Harris shares the full story of Bumpurs's life and death.
hellgatenyc.com
August 26, 2025 at 2:20 PM
"This [eviction] was never a thing for the police to get involved with. What were they going to do, put her in the street?"
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
Read an excerpt from professor and historian LaShawn Harris's new book, "Tell Her Story: Eleanor Bumpurs & the Police Killing That Galvanized New York City" here:
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
I am forever honored that Karen Lewis entrusted me to co-author her memoir--I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education @haymarketbooks.org Karen was a powerful labor leader, formidable fighter & staunch defender of students, teachers & public education 1/ www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2444-i...
March 10, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I am forever honored that Karen Lewis entrusted me to co-author her memoir--I Didn’t Come Here to Lie: My Life and Education @haymarketbooks.org Karen was a powerful labor leader, formidable fighter & staunch defender of students, teachers & public education 1/ www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2444-i...
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Beauticians continue to teach us lessons on how to strategize in difficult political movements.
Inside their salons, they’ve reshaped what community work looks like, creating spaces for political organizing, economic independence and healing.
Black beauticians have always done more than style hair — they’ve built power
Inside their salons, they’ve reshaped what community work looks like, creating spaces for political organizing, economic independence and healing.
19thnews.org
April 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Beauticians continue to teach us lessons on how to strategize in difficult political movements.
Blurbs are in for "Tell Her Story." Thank you great scholars and friends. Thank you @beaconpress.bsky.social
Read all the blurbs here: www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
Read all the blurbs here: www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
April 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Blurbs are in for "Tell Her Story." Thank you great scholars and friends. Thank you @beaconpress.bsky.social
Read all the blurbs here: www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
Read all the blurbs here: www.beacon.org/Tell-Her-Sto...
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
It’s been 10 years since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015 and the Uprising that followed. Many in Baltimore remember the grief, anger and pain of those days, but also the solidarity and organizing that came from taking to the streets and declaring “Whose streets? Our streets.”
April 6, 2025 at 1:52 PM
It’s been 10 years since Freddie Gray’s death in 2015 and the Uprising that followed. Many in Baltimore remember the grief, anger and pain of those days, but also the solidarity and organizing that came from taking to the streets and declaring “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
Demonstrations took place across the country, uniting a myriad of criticisms of the Trump administration under one message: "Hands off."
Nationwide 'Hands Off!' protests erupt against Trump and Musk
Demonstrations took place across the country, uniting a myriad of criticisms of the Trump administration under one message: "Hands off!"
www.npr.org
April 6, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Demonstrations took place across the country, uniting a myriad of criticisms of the Trump administration under one message: "Hands off."
Reposted by LaShawn Harris
The fate of trans, intersex, and nonbinary people is not a political ideology, it’s a matter of human rights, civil rights, and freedom of expression.
This return to McCarthyism by other means is a leap backwards to a grim chapter of US history. #TransLivesMatter 🏳️⚧️
This return to McCarthyism by other means is a leap backwards to a grim chapter of US history. #TransLivesMatter 🏳️⚧️
Literary Organizations Release Joint Statement Decrying Anti-Trans Executive Order
The American Booksellers Association, Audio Publishers Association, Independent Book Publishers Association, PEN America, and dozens of other orgs issued a letter addressing President Donald Trump's…
buff.ly
February 26, 2025 at 7:26 PM
The fate of trans, intersex, and nonbinary people is not a political ideology, it’s a matter of human rights, civil rights, and freedom of expression.
This return to McCarthyism by other means is a leap backwards to a grim chapter of US history. #TransLivesMatter 🏳️⚧️
This return to McCarthyism by other means is a leap backwards to a grim chapter of US history. #TransLivesMatter 🏳️⚧️