Read for #BlackLivesMatter: A List of Important Books & Articles

Hi,

I know there are so many places to get this kind of information right now and it can be overwhelming. I don’t want to overload you with info. I am trying to organize these lists as easy as possible. Does this blog post work for you? Comment below. 

There are so many amazing and informative books that cover Black history, race, racism, anti-racism, social justice…everything we need to be focusing on right now. It’s so easy to shut down my work day and turn to TV to wind down. I am trying really hard to end my days with reading vs. binging a reality show.

Below, you will find a collection of books and articles that were sent to me. We have to try to understand all of the layers of what is happening right now which includes how we got here. If we all learn and work together, change will happen. Even the littlest things are a step toward this change. So, pick up one of these books, read one of these articles, talk to your friends about them, give the book to someone you know when you finish…let’s do this.

xo,

Whit

LittleFeminist.com

Little Feminist began their monthly book club subscription to use the power of children’s books to help families integrate lessons of injustice and fighting for equity into story time. After launching two years ago, they published their own board book series, titled “We Are Little Feminists,” created specifically to help families discuss race, gender, sexuality and disability to babies and toddlers.

The below resources were compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein in May 2020

Articles to read:

• PBS’s Teaching Your Child About Black History Month
• Your Kids Aren’t Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup from Pretty Good
• “America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)
• Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: Mentoring a New Generation of Activists
• ”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)
• The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine
• The Combahee River Collective Statement
• “The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)
• Tips for Creating Effective White Caucus Groups developed by Craig Elliott PhD
• “Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?” by Courtney Martin (June 1, 2020)
• ”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh
• “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)

Books to read:

• Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners: books for children and young adults
• 31 Children’s books to support conversations on race, racism and resistance

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  • Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

  

  • Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

  

  • Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

  

  • How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

  

  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

  

  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

  

  • Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

  

  • Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold

  

  • Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

  

  • Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

  

  • So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

  

  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

  

  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

  

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

  

  • The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

  

  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

  

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

  

  • This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga

  

  • When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

  

  • White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD