Anti-Racist Resources
The following compilation of resources presents anti-racism literature created by university libraries following the murder of George Floyd. The library websites compiled were from the top 10 Universities in the United States as was reported by US News. Books were placed on this list if repeatedly recommended as a resource by multiple libraries. Books are alphabetized by the author’s last name.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
he New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.
Hands up, Don't Shoot
“...With equal parts passion and theoretical nuance, and an eye on history, Cobbina makes explicit why the deaths of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and so many others matter so much...”
Jody Miller – author of Getting Played: African American Girls, Urban Inequality, and Gendered Violence
Women, Race and Class
A powerful study of the women’s liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders. From the widely revered and legendary political activist and scholar Angela Davis.
The Souls of Black Folk
The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches is a 1903 work of American literature by W. E. B. Du Bois. It is a seminal work in the history of sociology and a cornerstone of African-American literature. The book contains several essays on race, some of which had been published earlier in The Atlantic Monthly.
City of Inmates
his book explains how the City of Angels became the capital city of the world's leading incarcerator. Marshaling more than two centuries of evidence, historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez unmasks how histories of native elimination, immigrant exclusion, and black disappearance drove the rise of incarceration in Los Angeles.
How to Be an Antiracist
How to Be an Antiracist is a 2019 nonfiction book by American author and historian Ibram X. Kendi. The book discusses concepts of racism and Kendi's proposals for anti-racist individual actions and systemic changes. Wikipedia
Race, reform, and rebellion
"This contemporary history of black America outlines the basic problems and challenges during the crucial era of black reform. Aimed at students of contemporary American politics and society, this acclaimed study by one of the most articulate and eloquent authorities on the movement for black freedom traces the divergent elements for political, social, and moral reform in non-white America since 1945. Through the 1950s and 1960s..."--Back cover.
The Origin of Others
America's foremost novelist reflects on the themes that preoccupy her work and increasingly dominate national and world politics: race, fear, borders, the mass movement of peoples, the desire for belonging. What is race and why does it matter? What motivates the human tendency to construct Others? Why does the presence of Others make us so afraid?
Algorithms of Oppression
Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism is a 2018 book by Safiya Umoja Noble in the fields of information science, machine learning, and human-computer interaction. Wikipedia
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation
Winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize for an Especially Notable Book
“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's searching examination of the social, political and economic dimensions of the prevailing racial order offers important context for understanding the necessity of the emerging movement for black liberation.”
—Michelle Alexander
The End of Policing
The End of Policing is a 2017 book by the American sociologist Alex S. Vitale. In it, Vitale argues for the eventual abolition of the police, to be replaced variously by decriminalization or with non-law enforcement approaches, depending on the crime. Wikipedia
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration is a historical study of the Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Wikipedia