Black Lives Matter; A Reading List
Compiled and written by Tallulah Frigo
The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander
This amazing book was written by a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. It talks about the mass incarceration of African American males in the US. The book ultimately explains how mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the new Jim Crow. This will really touch you and was received amazingly by critiques!
Just Mercy – Bryan Stevenson
This really powerful story calls to fix America’s broken justice system. It is about a young lawyer who grows up in a poor black community in the racially segregated South. He defends those most desperate and in need, particularly, another young black man who was sentenced to die for a murder he insists he didn’t commit.
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
This novel from the 1970s was Toni Morrison’s first novel. It takes place in Ohio and tells the story of a young black woman who develops an inferiority complex after being consistently regarded as “unattractive”, instead desiring blue eyes which she equates with whiteness, to escape the oppression she experiences as a result of her dark skin. This novel reminds us how harmful racism is in its micro forms.
Me and White Supremacy – Layla F. Saad
This is an amazing resource for white people who want to challenge white supremacy, but don’t know where to begin. It is confrontational and much needed. It covers how to dismantle the privilege within yourself to stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage upon people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge
This is a wakeup call, exploring issues from eradicated black history to the inextricable link between class and race in Britain. It challenges the denial of structural and institutional racisms occurring in homes, offices, and communities.
Talkin’ Up to The White Woman – Alleen Moreton-Robinson
This book applies Dr. Moreton-Robinson’s academic and cultural knowledge to reveal the (often un-talked about) impact of whiteness, power, and privilege in feminist practice, particularly Australian feminism. This is really provocative and rewrites current ideas of a mutual sisterhood and the common good.
White Fragility – Robin DiAngelo
This 2018 book covers challenging racism by working against and also understanding “white fragility”, the reaction in which white people feel attacked, offended, and uncomfortable when the topic of racism arises. It uncovers all the different aspects and manifestations of white fragility that the author herself encountered as a diversity and inclusion facilitator.
The Next American Revolution – Grace Lee Boggs
This book is a guide to the radical social change that is needed to confront the realities in America – political, economic, and environmental injustices. Grace Lee Boggs has seven decades of activist experience, for civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, and more.
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkerson
This beautifully written book tells the stories of an untold aspect of American history, the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better and more just life. It was named one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times!
America’s Original Sin – Jim Wallis
This book discusses the intrinsically deep roots of racism in America, with a foundation tied to the near extermination of one race of people and the enslavement of another. This is a really uniquely written call to action in overcoming this ingrained racism, and speaks candidly in particular to white Christians.
Loving vs Virginia – Patricia Hruby Powell
Richard and Mildred Loving were sentenced to a year in prison for marrying each other at a time when interracial marriage was prohibited by law in their home state of Virginia. Their determination to be together led them to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court where, in a landmark decision, the court invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The decision was followed by an increase in interracial marriages in the U.S, and is remembered annually on Loving Day, June 12. This documentary novel vividly brings to life this inspiring story.
Warriors Don’t Cry – Melba Pattillo Beals
This autobiographical account explores the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education. Melba Pattillo Beals and eight other teenagers became iconic symbols for the Civil Rights Movement as they integrated Little Rock’s Central High School. Beals was taunted, threatened, attacked and injured, but this story tells the dignity and courage she acted with throughout it all.
Black Boy – Richard Wright
This memoir tells of Richard Wright’s upbringing in the south. It is an honest and profound depiction of racism in the US, as Wright travels from the south to Chicago in his young adult years. He gains an immense understanding of American race relations and writes about this wonderfully.
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, this 1982 story focuses on the life of African American women in the Southern United States in the 1930s, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. This also won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, making Walker the first black woman to win the prize.
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
This novel addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by the African Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship between black identity and Marxism, and the reformist racial policies of Booker T. Washington, as well as issues of individuality and personal identity.
Stamped from The Beginning – Ibram X. Kendi
This book is a definitive history of racist ideals, exploring notions of racial superiority and provides a deep and complex background to the white supremacists we see in the US today. The central idea is highlighting the racism in America today, and how it is linked to America’s foundations.
How to Be Antiracist – Ibram X. Kendi
Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America, but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.
Rest in Power – Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin
Trayvon Martin’s parents take readers beyond the news cycle with an account only they could give: the intimate story of a tragically foreshortened life and the rise of a movement. It tells the story of the beautiful and complex child they lost, the cruel unresponsiveness of the police and the hostility of the legal system, and the inspiring journey they took from grief and pain to power, and from tragedy and senselessness to meaning.
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
This book was written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being black in the United States. Coates explores American history and explains to his son the "racist violence that has been woven into American culture."
The Street – Ann Petry
This tells the heartbreaking story of Lutie Johnson, a young black woman, and her struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s. This story still resonates today in its power and poignance.