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Anti-Racism Resources | Black Lives Matter

Selected list of resources focusing on anti-racism as it concerns the Black community.

Fiction Books

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Also available as an e-book.

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The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas,  2017. Also available to stream in the Feature Films for Education Database.

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Americanah by Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, 2013.

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The Underground Railroad (Pulitzer Prize Winner) (National Book Award Winner) (Oprah's Book Club) by Colson Whitehead, 2016.

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The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) by Colson Whitehead, 2016.

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Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid, 1997

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Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, 2017.

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Kindred by Octavia Butler, 1988. 

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Mulberry by Paulette Boudreaux, 2015.

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Erasure by Percival Everett, 2001. 

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Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 1995. (originally published in 1952)

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Native Son by Richard Wright, 1900. 

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Beloved by Toni Morrison, 1987.

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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, 2016. 

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Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, 1998.

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Corregidora by Gayl Jones, 1986.

Non-Fiction

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The Streets Belong to Us : sex, race, and police power from segregation to gentrification by Anne Gray Fischer, 2022.

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Black Grief/White Grievance: The Politics of Loss by Juliet Hooker, 2023.

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The Movement: The African American Struggle for Civil Rights by Thomas C. Holt, 2021.

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All the White Friends I Couldn't Keep: hope—and hard pills to swallow—about fighting for black lives by Andre Henry, 2022.

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Seeing White: An Introduction to White Privilege and Race, 2nd ed. by Halley, Jean O'Malley, Eshleman, Amy, and Vijaya, Ramya Mahadevan, 2022. 

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Race after Technology: abolitionist tools for the New Jim Code by Ruha Benjamin, 2019. 

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The 1619 Project  created by Nikole Hannah-Jones, et. al, 2021.

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Affirmative Acts: political essays by June Jordan, 1998.

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Algorithms of Oppression: how search engines reinforce racism by Safiya Umoja Noble, 2018.

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The American Dream for Students of Color: Myths and Barriers to Educational Success by Gretchen Givens Generett; Amy M. Olson, 2021. 

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American Ideas of Equality: A Social History, 1750 - 2020 by Carl L. Bankston, 2021.

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The Angela Y. Davis Reader by Joy James, 1998.

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The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley, 1992.

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Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation by Ebony Omotola McGee, 2020. 

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Blackballed: the black and white politics of race on America's campuses by Lawrence Ross, 2016.

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Black or Right: Anti/Racist Campus Rhetorics by Louis M. Maraj, 2020. 

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Caste: The Origins of our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson, 2020. 

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Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement by Barbara Ransby, 2003. 

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Evicted: poverty and profit in the American city by Matthew Desmond, 2016.

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The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, 1963.

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The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward, 2016.

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The Making of White American Identity by Ron Eyerman, 2022.

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From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, 2016.

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Hard White:  the mainstreaming of racism in American politics by Richard C. Fording and Sanford F. Schram, 2020.

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Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal, 2017.

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How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by Manning Marable, 2015. 

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How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, 2019.

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It Was All a Dream: a new generation confronts the broken promise to Black America by Reniqua Allen, 2019.

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Killing Rage: Ending Racism by bell hooks, 1995.

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Medical Apartheid: the dark history of medical experimentation on Black Americans from colonial times to the present by Harriet A. Washington, 2007.

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Racism Without Racists: color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America, 6th ed. by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, 2022.

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The New Jim Crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, 2010.

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Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, 1993. 

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Racial Microaggressions: using critical race theory to respond to everyday racism by Solarzano and Huber, 2020.

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Racism and Gay Men of Color: living and coping with discrimination by Sulaimon Giwa, 2022.

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Racism in American Public Life: A Call to Action by Johnnetta B. Cole, 2021.

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Retail Racism: Shopping While Black and Brown in America by Michelle Dunlop, 2021.

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Selected Writings on Race and Difference by Stuart Hall, 2021.

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Sickening:  anti-Black racism and health disparities in the United States by Anne Pollock, 2021. 

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The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois, 2003 ( first published 1903).

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So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo, 2019.

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Stamped from the Beginning: the definitive history of racist ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi, 2016. 

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Under The Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation by Linda Villarosa, 2022.

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The Sum of Us: What racism costs everyone and how we can prosper together by Heather McGhee, 2021.

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Unmuted: Conversations on Prejudice, Oppression, and Social Justice by Myisha Cherry, 2019.

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Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. Blain, 2021.

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The Weight of Whiteness: A Feminist Engagement with Privilege, Race and Ignorance by Alison Bailey, 2021.

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White Evangelical Racism: The Politics and Morality in America by Anthea Butler, 2021. 

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White Fragility: Why its so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin Diangelo, 2018.

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White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America Creator by Margaret A. Hagerman, 2018.

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White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise, 2011. Also available on DVD. 

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White Rage: the unspoken truth of our racial divide by Carol Anderson, 2016. 

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Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly D. Tatum, 2003. 

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Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America by John McWhorter, 2021.

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Rich Thanks to Racism: how the ultra-wealthy profit from racial injustice by Jim Freeman, 2021.

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Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools: Closing the Achievement Gap in America's Classrooms by Tyrone C. Howard, 2020.

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Witnessing Whiteness : The Journey into Racial Awareness and Antiracist Action by Shelly Tochluk, 2022.

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Thinking Race: Social Myths and Biological Realities by Richard A. Goldsby and Mary Catherine Bateson, 2019.

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Getting Smart about Race: An American Conversation by Margaret L. Andersen, 2021.

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Unraveling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why it's Time to Break the Cycle by Christia Spears Brown, 2021.

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The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy by Raul Perez, 2022.

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Academic Outsider: Stories of Exclusion and Hope by Victoria Reyes, 2022.

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Diversity Matters: The Color, Shape, and Tone of Twenty-First Century Diversity by Emily Allen Williams, et al., 2021.

Additional Reading Lists

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Beyond the KKK: Understanding White Supremacy as a System of Power 

 

Crystal Marie Fleming, author of "How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide", offers a curated reading list examining how systemic racism has been deeply entrenched within our economic system, social and political institutions, public policies, and cultural symbols.

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#CharlestonSyllabus

#CharlestonSyllabus is a crowdsourced list of reading recommendations relating to the history of racial violence in the United States. It was created in response to the race-motivated violence in Charleston, South Carolina on the evening of June 17, 2015, when Dylann Roof opened fire during a Bible study session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killing 9 people.

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#FergusonSyllabus

#FergusonSyllabus is a crowdsourced syllabus about race, African American history, civil rights, and policing. Dr. Marcia Chatelain, assistant professor of history at Georgetown University, created the hashtag #fergusonsyllabus so that educators could have a platform to discuss the national crisis in Ferguson, Missouri sparked by the police killing of Michael Brown in August, 2014.

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Black Lives Matter Reading List

Formerly known as the Ferguson Reads List, this reading list is intended to provide some
history and context to the protests in 2020.

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14 Antiracist Books for Kids and Teens Recommended by BIPOC Teachers and Librarians

The title says it all. You will need a NYTimes digital subscription to access. WVC Library offers free digital subscriptions to students and staff.  Get a NYTimes Digital Pass here.

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Understanding and Dismantling Racism: A Booklist for White Readers

Recommended reading list of older books from Charis Books, Atlanta, GA. Check OneSearch to see if we have them!

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