Books about Racism and Social Justice
The 1619 ProjectAn online PDF version of the complete 1619 Project originally published in The New York Times Magazine.
Stamped from the Beginning by "In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. While racist ideas are easily produced and easily consumed, they can also be discredited. In shedding much-needed light on the murky history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose them--and in the process, gives us reason to hope."
I Am Not Your Negro by Available thru PASCAL
Transcript of the documentary film, I Am Not Your Negro, by Raoul Peck composed of unpublished and published writings, interviews, and letters by James Baldwin on the subject of racism in America.
Stony the Road : Reconstruction, White Supremacy, and the Rise of Jim Crow by "In a history that moves from Reconstruction to the Harlem Renaissance, Gates charts the noble struggle of black people to defeat racism and force the country to honor the 'new birth of freedom' that Lincoln pledged would be the legacy of the Civil War, and uncovers the roots of racism in our time." - from publisher
The Fire Next Time by "A national bestseller when it first appeared in 1963, The Fire Next Time galvanized the nation, gave passionate voice to the emerging civil rights movement--and still lights the way to understanding race in America today."
'We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident...' An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of Racism and Slavery in America by 'We hold these truths to be self evident' An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of Racism and Slavery in America delves into the philosophical, historical, socio/cultural and political evolution of racism and slavery in America. This book is intended help the reader understand how the United States, a nation that claims 'all men are created equal,' could be responsible for slavery and the intractable threads of racism and inequality that have become woven into its cultural the fabric. - from publisher
The N Word : Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why by This book untangles the twisted history of the term, which has both reflected and spread the scourge of bigotry in America over the four hundred years since it was first spoken on our shores. Asim argues that only when we know its legacy can we loosen this slur’s grip on our national psyche.
The Charleston Syllabus by "A collection of new essays and columns published in the wake of the 2015 Charleston, SC, massacre, along with excerpts from key scholarly books. It draws from a variety of disciplines--history, sociology, urban studies, law, critical race theory" - from publisher
How to be an Antiracist by Available thru PASCAL
"Combines ethics, history, law, and science with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable." - from publisher
Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? : and Other Conversations about Race by Available thru PASCAL
"Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. This fully revised and updated edition is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand-and perhaps someday fix-the problem of segregation in America" - from publisher
So You Want to Talk about Race by "A contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word, perfectly positioned to bridge the gap between people of color and white Americans struggling with race complexities." - from publisher
Backlash: What Happens when We Talk Honestly about Racism in America by Available thru PASCAL
"Despite the rhetoric of a 'post-race' America, Yancy quickly discovered that racism is still alive, crude, and vicious in its expression. In Backlash, he challenges white Americans to rise above the vitriol and to develop a new empathy for the African American experience." - from publisher
Killing Rage by One of our country's premier cultural and social critics, bell hooks has always maintained that eradicating racism and eradicating sexism must go hand in hand. But whereas many women have been recognized for their writing on gender politics, the female voice has been all but locked out of the public discourse on race. Killing Rage speaks to this imbalance.
The Burning House by In this book, Anders Walker shows how a generation of scholars and judges has misinterpreted Powell's definition of diversity in the landmark case Regents v. Bakke, forgetting its Southern origins and weakening it in the process. By re-situating the decision in the context of Southern intellectual history, Walker places diversity on a new footing, independent of affirmative action but also free from the constraints currently placed on it by the Supreme Court. This book offers a new lens through which to understand the history of civil rights in the United States. - from publisher
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Available thru PASCAL
"This book explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation -- that is, through individual prejudices or the actions of private institutions. Rather, Rothestein makes it clear that it was de jure segregation -- the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments -- that actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day." - from publisher
One Person, No Vote: How Not All Voters are Treated Equally"This book chronicles the rollbacks to African American participation in voting since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Known as the Shelby ruling, this decision effectively allowed districts with a demonstrated history of racial discrimination to change voting requirements. Anderson follows the story of government-dictated racial discrimination unfolding before our very eyes as more and more states adopt voter suppression laws." - from publisher
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by "The New Jim Crow has become a phenomenon, sparking a much-needed conversation about the ways in which our system of mass incarceration has come to resemble systems of racial control from a different era." - from publisher
Policing the Black Man by "Explores and critiques the many ways the criminal justice system impacts the lives of African American boys and men at every stage of the criminal process from arrest through sentencing. The co-authors discuss and explain racial profiling, the power and discretion of police and prosecutors, the role of implicit bias, the racial impact of police and prosecutorial decisions, the disproportionate imprisonment of black men, the collateral consequences of mass incarceration, and the Supreme Court's failure to provide meaningful remedies for the injustices in the criminal justice system."
The End of Policing by Available through PASCAL.
"This book attempts to spark public discussion by revealing the tainted origins of modern policing as a tool of social control. It shows how the expansion of police authority is inconsistent with community empowerment, social justice even public safety. Drawing on groundbreaking research from across the world, and covering virtually every area in the increasingly broad range of police work, Alex Vitale demonstrates how law enforcement has come to exacerbate the very problems it is supposed to solve."
Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores by "This book explores the history and foundation of mass incarceration, examining Christianity's role in its evolution and expansion. He assesses our nation's ethic of meritocratic justice in light of Scripture and exposes the theologies that embolden mass incarceration. Gilliard then shows how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles, offering creative solutions and highlighting innovative interventions." - from publisher
Black and Blue: Inside the Divide Between the Police and Black America by "The recent killings in Dallas, Baton Rouge, Ferguson, and elsewhere are just the latest examples of the longstanding rift between law enforcement and people of color. In this revealing journey to the heart of a growing crisis, CBS News Justice and Homeland Security Correspondent Jeff Pegues provides unbiased facts, statistics, and perspectives from both sides of the community-police divide."
Are Prisons Obsolete? by *Available through PASCAL.
"Since the 1980s prison construction and incarceration rates in the U.S. have been rising exponentially... But these prisons house hugely disproportionate numbers of people of colour, betraying the racism embedded in the system, while studies show that increasing prison sentences has had no effect on crime. Here, esteemed civil rights activist Angela Davis lays bare the situation and argues for a radical rethinking of our rehabilitation programmes."
Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States by "This collection of reports and essays ... explores police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures. It also makes a compelling and provocative argument against calling the police."
Invisible No More by *Available through PASCAL.
"Invisible No More is a timely examination of how Black women, Indigenous women, and women of color experience racial profiling, police brutality, and immigration enforcement. Placing stories of individual women-such as Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Dajerria Becton, Monica Jones, and Mya Hall-in the broader context of the twin epidemics of police violence and mass incarceration, it documents the evolution of movements centering women's experiences of policing and demands a radical rethinking of our visions of safety-and the means we devote to achieving it."
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by "Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. This book explores how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively." - from publisher
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race by A meditation on race and identity from one of our most provocative cultural critics. A reckoning with the way we choose to see and define ourselves, Self-Portrait in Black and White is the searching story of one American family's multigenerational transformation from what is called black to what is assumed to be white.
White Rage by *Available through PASCAL.
"From the Civil War to our combustible present, acclaimed historian Carol Anderson reframes our continuing conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America."
White Privilege: The Myth of a Post-Racial Society by *Available through PASCAL
"Draws on social science research and political and economic analysis to show how people from black and minority backgrounds are continually positioned as outsiders in public discourse and interpersonal interaction. Bhopal's book is rooted in dispassionate analysis, but its message is unmistakable--the structural advantages of whiteness are widespread, and dismantling them will require both honesty about their power and determination to change them.
Revealing Whiteness by "Explores how white privilege operates as an unseen, invisible, and unquestioned norm in society today. In this personal and self searching book, Shannon Sullivan interrogates her own whiteness and how being white has affected her. By looking closely at the subtleties of white domination, she issues a call for other white people to own up to their unspoken privilege and confront environments that condone or perpetuate it.
- Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new windowContains 1,303 sources with 1,210 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Particular care has been taken to index this material so that it can be searched more thoroughly than ever before. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamplets, letters and other fugitive material.
- Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle This link opens in a new windowProQuest History Vault's coverage of the Black Freedom Struggle offers the opportunity to study the most well-known and also unheralded events of the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century from the perspective of the men, women, and sometimes even children who waged one of the most inspiring social movements in American history. This category consists of the NAACP Papers and federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers regarding the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century.
- Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive online collection from Oxford University Press focusing on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture
- ProQuest History Vault This link opens in a new windowCollection areas in History Vault focus on the Black Freedom Movement of the 20th Century, Southern Life and Slavery, Women's Rights, International Relations, American Politics and Society with a strong focus on the 20th Century, and labor unions, workers and radical politics in the 20th Century. On the topic of civil rights and Black Freedom, History Vault contains records of four of the most important civil rights organizations of the 1950s and 1960s: NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, and CORE.
- Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new windowThis impressive online collection brings together a multitude of sources on slavery, including:
*Essential legal materials including every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery
*Hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery—defending it, attacking it or simply analyzing it
*Every English language legal commentary on slavery published before 1920
*Word searchable access to all Congressional debates from the Continental Congress to 1880