Anti-Racist Literature: Recommended Reading List

• "How to Be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi

  A groundbreaking approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society.

• "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo

  Examines the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially and how these behaviors maintain racial inequality.

• "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander

  Explores the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status.

• "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America" by Ibram X. Kendi

  A comprehensive history of racist ideas in America, from their origins to their persistent influence today.

• "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

  A powerful letter from Coates to his adolescent son about the realities of being Black in America.

• "So You Want to Talk About Race" by Ijeoma Oluo

  A guide for discussing race in America, addressing issues from privilege to police brutality.

• "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America" by Richard Rothstein

  Investigates how federal, state, and local governments contributed to segregation and the racial divide.

• "Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor" by Layla F. Saad

  A workbook that helps readers understand white privilege and participate in anti-racism work.

• "Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption" by Bryan Stevenson

  A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice.

• "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race" by Beverly Daniel Tatum

  Examines the development of racial identity and the implications of race in the educational environment.

• "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin

  Baldwin's essays about race relations in the 1960s that remain deeply relevant today.

• "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson

  Chronicles the decades-long migration of Black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities.

• "Citizen: An American Lyric" by Claudia Rankine

  A provocative meditation on race, chronicling racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life.

• "Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America" by Michael Eric Dyson

  An urgent call to white America to confront its privilege and respond to the injustices faced by African Americans.

• "The Souls of Black Folk" by W.E.B. Du Bois

  A seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African-American literary history.

• "The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story" by Nikole Hannah-Jones and The New York Times Magazine

  A collection of essays and poetry exploring the legacy of slavery in contemporary America.

• "I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness" by Austin Channing Brown

  A memoir about Brown's experiences navigating America's racial divide.

• "Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents" by Isabel Wilkerson

  Analyzes the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

• "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement" by Angela Y. Davis

  A collection of essays, interviews, and speeches that illustrate the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

• "Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning" by Cathy Park Hong

  Combines memoir, cultural criticism, and history to confront the truths of race and identity in America.

• "Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing" by Joy DeGruy

  Explores the multi-generational trauma experienced by African Americans due to centuries of slavery and continued oppression, offering strategies for healing and transformation.