Hi. I’ve been silent on my blog about all of this too long and I am sorry. This blog post is an anti-racism reading list comprised of books I have found across the internet that are about race and social justice. I put together the books I’m most interested in reading in one long list for any of you who want to learn how to do better and BE better. There is also a BLM shelf on my Goodreads page for easy shelving and browsing.
I found these ant-racism book list recommendations on this Buzzfeed article, this Google doc that has been spreading widely, this NY Times article, and from the following Instagrammers: @melanatedreader, @goodtomicha, and @asbthebookworm. I’m embarrassed that I haven’t read MORE of these types of books. I read and loved The Hate U Give a few years ago. But I’m determined to read more to be able to understand and therefore educate more people in my circles.
If you read any of these and want to talk about them, my DMs are open. We’ve been putting this burden on black people to educate us for far too long. We need to step up and do the work if we truly care about growing as a person and bettering our country. And while we’re at it, here are more links to anti-racism resources.
Now let’s get to this anti-racism reading list (descriptions are pulled from Goodreads and shortened slightly). I’ve also included the genre in case you are looking for something in particular. For me right now, I’m going to be starting with memoirs and fiction as well as some popular nonfiction titles. So that’s what you’ll find in this list.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (fiction, YA)
This is one I’ve already read and highly recommend!
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
Dear Martin by Nic Stone (fiction, YA)
Justyce McAllister is top of his class and set for the Ivy League—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. And despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can’t escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates. Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.
Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up. Sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it’s Justyce who is under attack.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (nonfiction, memoir)
What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper (nonfiction, memoir, essays)
Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother’s eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage, her life was changed. And it took another intervention to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one’s own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon (nonfiction, memoir)
In Heavy, Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.
How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (nonfiction)
In this book, Kendi weaves together an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science. Bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. How to Be an Antiracist is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond an awareness of racism to the next step. Contributing to the formation of a truly just and equitable society.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (nonfiction, memoir)
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash”. At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (nonfiction, memoir)
Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad (nonfiction, self-help)
FREE on Kindle if you have Amazon Prime
Based on the viral Instagram challenge that captivated participants worldwide, Me and White Supremacy takes readers on a 28-day journey of how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock (nonfiction, memoir)
In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those twenty-three hundred words were life-altering for the People.com editor, turning her into an influential and outspoken public figure and a desperately needed voice for an often voiceless community. In these pages, she offers a bold and inspiring perspective on being young, multicultural, economically challenged, and transgender in America.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (nonfiction)
In So You Want to Talk About Race, 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.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (historical fiction)
The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first novel, a book heralded for its richness of language and boldness of vision. Set in the author’s girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio, it tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America. In the autumn of 1941, the year the marigolds in the Breedloves’ garden do not bloom. Pecola’s life does change- in painful, devastating ways.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (nonfiction)
In this incisive critique, former litigator-turned-legal-scholar Michelle Alexander provocatively argues that we have not ended racial caste in America: we have simply redesigned it. Alexander shows that, by targeting black men and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even as it formally adheres to the principle of color blindness. The New Jim Crow challenges the civil rights community–and all of us–to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD (nonfiction)
White fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, anti-racist educator Robin DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what can be done to engage more constructively.
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt (nonfiction)
We do not have to be racist to be biased. Eberhardt offers a reasoned look into the effects of implicit racial bias, ranging from the subtle to the dramatic. Racial bias can lead to disparities in education, employment, housing, and the criminal justice system. Then those very disparities further reinforce the problem. In Biased, Eberhardt reveals how even when we are not aware of bias and genuinely wish to treat all people equally, ingrained stereotypes can infect our visual perception, attention, memory, and behavior.
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves Edited by Glory Edim (nonfiction, essays)
Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging can stick with readers the rest of their lives. It doesn’t come around as frequently for all of us. In this timely anthology, “well-read black girl” Glory Edim brings together original essays by some of our best black female writers and creative voices to shine a light on how we search for ourselves in literature. And how important it is that everyone–no matter their gender, race, religion, or abilities–can find themselves there.
“Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum (nonfiction)
Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential. These topics have only become more urgent as the national conversation about race is increasingly acrimonious. This fully revised edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of race in America.
And that is the conclusion of my anti-racism reading list for now. I’ll be working my way through this and adding books along the way. If you have any suggestions not mentioned in this post, leave a comment below! And, you’ll notice I didn’t use any affiliate links. If you are thinking of purchasing any of these, I encourage you to search for Black owned bookstores and support them during this time. Here’s another list of Black owned bookstores operating online as well.
White people need to do better and this post was my attempt at helping that along. I hope if you’re reading this, you will consider picking up one or all of these books. Change your worldview. #BlackLivesMatter.
