Resources
Real Friends Talk About Race is here!
Booklist gave it a starred review and called it a:
“Crucial text... Accessible and featuring helpful Q&As throughout, the book breaks down everything from communication, allyship, white supremacy, microaggressions, and newer concepts such as blackfishing. Essential for public libraries and book clubs."
Books
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches
Audre Lorde’s iconic writings on intersectional feminism from the 1970’s. A must-read.
Beautiful Country: A Memoir
Hannah’s Current Pick: Qian Julie Wang’s incredible, NYT best-selling memoir recounts her childhood as an undocumented immigrant from China. She’s also a friend of Yseult’s.
Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude
James Baldwin’s lessons for our times.
The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison
A short but powerful book on our need for labeling people ‘other.’
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
An Asian American Reckoning: The author blends memoir and criticism into her essays on racial identity.
You're the Only One I've Told: Stories Behind Abortion
Dr. Meera Shah humanizes abortion and busts myths about people who get them.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Wilkerson draws shocking parallels between the Third Reich, the U.S.’s treatment of African Americans, and the caste systems in India. A must-read.
I’m Still Here
Austin Channing Brown’s concise but powerful book of essays on racism in white spaces, including the Evangelical Church.
Long Walk To Freedom
The stunning autobiography of anti-apartheid movement leader and South African president Nelson Mandela.
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
Audre Lorde’s “biomythography” about growing up gay and Black from the 1930’s to the 1990’s.
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom
A Pulitzer-winning biography on Douglass, from escaping slavery to being the orator of his time.
The Body Is Not An Apology
Sonya Renee Taylor’s book on the art of radical self love, and how body shame and terrorism results in all types of oppression. A must read.
White Negroes
Lauren Michele Jackson’s brilliant essays on cultural appropriation.
Transcendent Kingdom
Yseult’s Current Pick: Yaa Gyasi’s novel about a Ghanian family in Alabama.
The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibram Muhammad
A history of the racism inherent in crime statistics.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
A novel following the lives of British Black women. Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
A deep dive into the racist laws and policies that have created the wealth and education gaps.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
A great beginner book for you, or someone in your life who needs to ‘get it.’
The New Jim Crow
How the legacy of slavery lives on through mass incarceration. A powerful, change-your-life book.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration
Pulitzer-Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson’s story of Southern Blacks who fled North and West during the Great Migration.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
The leader’s incredible story in his own words.
Me and White Supremacy
An unflinching book on unlearning white supremacy, with journal prompts. A must-read.
Women, Race, and Class
Angela Y. Davis’ study of the racism inherent feminist movements.
Articles
Letter From a Birmingham Jail
Dr. King’s famous 1963 letter to his fellow clergymen, expressing disappointment of the church and white moderates, and calling for brotherhood.
The Case for Reparations
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ case for why we need to reconcile America’s moral debt.
Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics
Kimberlé Crenshaw’s pioneering paper from 1989, where she coined the term “intersectionality.”
When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels
Rachel Cargle explains the ways that white feminists silence, gaslight, and spiritually bypass Black women.
We Need to Talk About Digital Blackface in Reaction GIFs
Lauren Michele Jackson discusses reaction gifs and other uses of digital blackface online.
Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance
bell hooks’ 1992 essay on cultural appropriation and commodification.
Developing a Liberatory Consciousness
Dr. Barbara J. Love’s framework for moving from awareness to allyship.
Movies and Series to Watch
White Savior
A documentary of the white-washing of the church.
Eyes on the Prize
Hannah’s Current Pick: Eyes on the Prize is 1987 documentary series about the Civil Rights Movement.
One Night In Miami…
Based on true events, the movie follows an evening in 1964 where Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Cassius Clay, and Jim Brown discuss their roles and responsibilities in the civil rights movement.
13th
A must-watch on how mass-incarceration of Black Americans is the new slavery.
True Justice
The film follows attorney Bryan Stevenson and his work to free the wrongly convicted.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The history and historical and cultural significance of the Black Panther Party.