Racial Injustice: Where to Start
Books
Between the World and Me by
A profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son.
ISBN: 9780812993547Publication Date: 2015
The Other Wes Moore by
Two kids named Wes Moore, born blocks apart within a year of each other. One grows up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ends up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence.
ISBN: 9780385528207Publication Date: 2011
So You Want to Talk about Race by
Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.
ISBN: 9781580058827Publication Date: 2019
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by
Tatum argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides.
ISBN: 9780465060689Publication Date: 2017
Biased by
Exposes racial bias at all levels of society--in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, and criminal justice system, and offers tools to address it.
ISBN: 9780735224933Publication Date: 2019
Barracoon by
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis, the only person alive to tell the story of a raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.
ISBN: 9780062748201Publication Date: 2018
The Hate U Give by
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.
ISBN: 9780062498533Publication Date: 2017
The Poet X by
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, and is invited to join her school's slam poetry club.
ISBN: 9780062662811Publication Date: 2020
The Color Purple by
Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience.
ISBN: 9780143135692Publication Date: 2019
The Bluest Eye by
Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, a young black girl prays every day for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife.
ISBN: 9780307278449Publication Date: 2007
Dear Martin by
Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend--but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.
ISBN: 9781101939529Publication Date: 2018
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by
In the searing pages of this classic autobiography, originally published in 1964, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and anti-integrationist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Black Muslim movement.
ISBN: 0345350685Publication Date: 1987
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by
Maya Angelou's debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
ISBN: 9780345514400Publication Date: 2009
Notes of a Native Son by
In an age of Black Lives Matter, James Baldwin's essays on life in Harlem, the protest novel, movies, and African Americans abroad are as powerful today as when they were first written.
ISBN: 9780807006238Publication Date: 2012
Ordinary Light by
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith tells her remarkable story, giving us a quietly potent memoir that explores her coming-of-age and the meaning of home against a complex backdrop of race, faith, and the unbreakable bond between a mother and daughter.
ISBN: 9780345804075Publication Date: 2016
March (Trilogy Slipcase Set) by
An autobiographical black and white graphic novel trilogy about the Civil Rights Movement, told through the perspective of civil rights leader and U.S. Congressman John Lewis.
ISBN: 9781603093958Publication Date: 2016
Malcolm X by
With the thoroughly researched and passionately drawn Malcolm X, Helfer and award-winning artist Randy DuBurke capture Malcolm Little's extraordinary transformation from a black youth beaten down by Jim Crow America into Malcolm X, the charismatic, controversial, and doomed national spokesman for the Nation of Islam.
ISBN: 0809095041Publication Date: 2006
Nat Turner by
In Nat Turner, acclaimed author and illustrator Kyle Baker depicts the evils of slavery in this moving and historically accurate story of Nat Turner's slave rebellion.
ISBN: 9780810972278Publication Date: 2008
The Silence of Our Friends by
In 1967, a white family from a notoriously racist neighborhood and a black family from its poorest ward cross Houston's color line, overcome humiliation, degradation, and violence to win the freedom of five black college students unjustly charged with the murder of a policeman.
ISBN: 9781250164988Publication Date: 2018
Non-Racist vs. Anti-Racist
- Center for Antiracist Research Starting July 1, 2020, the Center for Antiracist Research will open at Boston University, run by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
This Book Is Anti-Racist by
Learn about social identities, the history of racism and resistance against it, and how you can use your anti-racist lens and voice to move the world toward equity and liberation.
ISBN: 9780711245211Publication Date: 2020
How to Be an Antiracist by
Details a widening circle of antiracist ideas--from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilites--that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their posionous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.
ISBN: 9780525509288Publication Date: 2019
Keeping Informed
- Vote Save America Your one-stop-shop for all the information and tools you need to participate in the 2020 election
- Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Email the North Central MA chapter: NorthCentralMASURJ@gmail.com
- Black Lives Matter "Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes."
- BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity) "national training intermediary focused on transforming the practice of Black organizers in the US to increase their alignment, impact and sustainability to win progressive change."
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) "The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons."
- Southern Poverty Law Center The SPLC is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.
- 1619 (New York Times) A New York Times audio series hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, exploring the history of the slave trade and its impact on American life today.
- Code Switch (NPR) A multi-racial, multi-generational team of journalists fascinated by the overlapping themes of race, ethnicity and culture, and how it all plays out in our lives.
- Floodlines (The Atlantic) The people who lived through Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath share their stories of one of the most misunderstood events in American history.
- Pod for the Cause (The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights) From the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights
- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast Features movement voices, stories, and strategies for racial justice
Movies
I Am Not Your Negro DVD by
A radical, up-to-the-minute examination of race in America, using Baldwin's original words and flood of rich archival material.
ISBN: 0876964011891Publication Date: 2017
White Like Me Race, Racism & White Privilege in America DVD by
Offers a fascinating look back at the race-based white entitlement programs that built the American middle class, and argues that our failure as a society to come to terms with this legacy of white privilege continues to perpetuate racial inequality and race-driven political resentments today.
Publication Date: 2013
White Like Me Companion Book by
The inspiration for the acclaimed documentary film, this deeply personal book reveals how racial privilege shapes the daily lives of white Americans in every realm.
ISBN: 9781593764258Publication Date: 2011
The Talk: Race in America DVD
Documents the increasingly common conversation taking place in homes across the country between parents of color and their children, especially sons, about how to behave if they are ever stopped by the police.
Publication Date: 2017
A Class Divided DVD by
For two days after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott, a third-grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa, gave her pupils a unique lesson in discrimination.
ISBN: 9780300040487Publication Date: 1987
Selma by
Chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition.
Publication Date: 2017
Fruitvale Station by
The true story of Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and is shot by BART officers in cold blood at the Fruitvale subway stop on New Year's Day 2009.
Publication Date: 2014
Do the Right Thing by
Over the course of a single day, the easygoing interactions of a cast of unforgettable characters give way to heated confrontations as tensions rise along racial fault lines, ultimately exploding into violence.
Publication Date: 1989
Just Mercy by
Follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson who heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of a local advocate.
Publication Date: 2020
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