Read: Learning More about Race in America

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So far, we’ve watched, listened, and learned more about civic engagement. If you’re looking for reading resources to help you learn about and engage in meaningful positive change related to race in America, the Durham Tech Library has curated a book list containing history, self-assessment, action and engagement advice, art, film, data science, travel, personal stories, and social science, just to name a few. 

Check it out! 

For a short description for each book, a catalog link for books available at the Durham Tech Library (available after we reopen), and a link to a detailed Goodreads description, check out the PDF version of this list. 

For broader historical perspectives: 

  • Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
  • Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X
  • White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
  • We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson & Tonya Bolden

For resources to self-assess and move forward: 

For resources to share with those just getting started at any age: 

  • This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell
  • 100 Questions and Answers About African Americans by Michigan State School of Journalism
  • Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi & Illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky

For books of essays about race and related topics: 

  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers her Superpower by Brittney Cooper
  • Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis
  • Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas
  • Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
  • The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
  • Thick And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
  • We Are Called to Be a Movement by Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II
  • We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates

For biographies and memoirs: 

  • Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo by Zora Neale Hurston
  • How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir by Saeed Jones
  • I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
  • March, Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
  • March, Book Three by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
  • Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward
  • Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
  • Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
  • The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson
  • The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty
  • When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele

For related social science topics: 

  • Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
  • Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt
  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
  • How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood by P. E. Moskowitz

For a very (very) small selection of current events and lesser-known histories: 

  • Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter by Charlton D. McIlwain
  • Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin
  • Laughing to Keep from Dying: African American Satire in the Twenty-First Century by Danielle Fuentes Morgan
  • Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar
  • Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone
  • The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by Jeffrey Haas
  • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
  • The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
  • The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
  • Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
  • Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino

A reading list is helpful, but how can it lead to meaningful societal change? Dr. Nicole Cook, the University of South Carolina librarian who created Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages (a page of multimedia resources, including interviews, articles, and lists), suggests three main steps: 

  • critical self-reflection, which involves identifying our biases, listening, and working towards becoming culturally competent
  • critical consciousness, which involves examining the systems around us and looking at the biases and prejudices within them
  • action and advocacy, which involves taking what you’ve learned and applying it to the areas you are involved in– work, school, you family, you community, through volunteering or voting or donating or personal behavioral changes– it can be big, but small continued actions can make a difference. 

Additional Resource Lists: 

Watch your email for future announcements about campus-wide reading groups around these topics. 

Note: There are many other lists available all around the internet on this topic. We’ve focused on more current books and books with recent revisions. There are many (many!) wonderful works of anti-racist and social justice literature not on this list.