how we be free

How We Be Free is a Black Fugitive Study Kit that honors the legacy of freedom-seeking ancestors—those who built networks of solidarity, practiced mutual aid, fought for abolition and reparations, and established self-sustaining Black communities. Their visionary blueprints for liberation continue to inspire today’s Black organizers, activists, and cultural workers who carry that legacy forward.

How We Be Free is a tool that celebrates and resources the Black radical tradition. It invites people to reclaim local histories of care, justice, and resistance; to create counter-narratives centered in Black joy and interdependence; and to nourish today’s movements for abolition, reparations, climate justice, and collective liberation.

Whats in the Box?

• A deck of 52 uniquely illustrated playing cards

• Three custom dice featuring 18 symbols of Black fugitive practices

• An informational booklet with historical context, quotes, and reflective prompts

Playing Cards

The suits in the How We Be Free card deck are paired with the elements of land, spirit, study, and care, which represent the building blocks of Free Black Towns, founded both before and after Emancipation. Historically, Black families would acquire a plot of land, where they would build a school, a church, and a benevolent society. These elements give us a glimpse into how our freedom-seeking ancestors cultivated liberated communities. The suits correlate with the traditional playing card suits of diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts.

Set of Dice

Each kit comes with three dice. The dice feature original symbols representing 18 different practices that freedom-seekers engaged on their freedom journeys. Practices include fixin’ a plate, cousining, footwork, looping, and many more. 

Informational Booklet

The 144-page informational booklet in the How We Be Free study kit features contextual information for each card, descriptions for each of the 18 fugitive practice symbols, quotes from Black visionaries, and prompts for personal and collective reflection. A QR code in the back of the booklet links to a Reference Guide for the kit that includes source citations and resources for further study. 

Ways to Activate

Together, these components support personal reflection, collective study, ancestral reverence, divination, creative expression, cultural organizing, and storytelling. And yes—it’s also built for joy, so bring it to your next story circle, study group, or cookout.

Pull a card and reflect on its meaning and resonance. Roll the dice and consider fugitive traditions that can inspire your everyday practices. Use the prompts in the booklet to support deepened reflection. Check the Reference Guide for books, art, and resources for continued study. 

photo credit: Asha Santee

Contributors+ Supporters

How We Be Free is made possible by the generous support and feedback of a robust community of beloved organizers, artists, scholars, spiritual practitioners, land-stewards and cultural workers. This beautiful community has engaged the kits in groups large and small, in their personal lives and in the classroom, at sites of slavery and sites of resistance, by the water, under the night sky and in plain sight. They have helped to shape this powerful offering through critical feedback, insightful questions, and thoughtful engagement. From proof-reading to thought partnership to creative collaboration and beyond, the following people have shaped How We Be and helped to bring this project to life: 

Carre Adams, Ayesha Ali, Laquesha Barnes, Chantel Bennett, Micha Broadnax, Anthony Cohen, Bradley Craig, Tasha Dougé, Treva Ellison, Mariama Eversley, Rachel Faulkner, Ifé Franklin, Raven E. Freeborn, Nicole, Joshua Gamma, Ahmane' Glover, Kelly Greenlight, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Audrey Hailes, Gia Harewood, Mattice Haynes, Laura Hughes, Angela Davis Johnson, Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, Michelle Lanier, Lee Levingston-Perine, Taja Lindley, Mazaré, Ọmọlará Williams McAllister, Eleisha Faith McCorkle, Alexis McKenney, Nina Mercer, Dr. Elise A. Mitchell, Vee Msanii, Solanke Omimuyegun, Katie Petit, Ron Ragin, Sughey Ramirez, Jonquille Rice, Asha Santee, Sarah Shoenfeld, Aja Taylor, Surafel Tesfaye, Maceo Thomas, Je’Kendria Trahan, Carol Valoris, Seshat Walker, Aisha Nailah White, and Ori Yarborough.

Supporters

How We Be Free emerges from a body of work called Black Fugitive Folklore. The following institutions have invested valuable resources, making it possible to continue this work, curate activations, and creatively engage community in the development of How We Be Free: The Opportunity Agenda, Humanities DC, Washington Project for the Arts, RUMA Collective, Alternate ROOTS, the Mellon Foundation and the Ford Foundation.