Since we shared the Mina Rees Library statement in support of black lives, we heard feedback from a member of our community who urged us to do more. Specifically, they proposed that we use this platform to highlight items from within our collections which focus on anti-racism and Black liberation. With appreciation for this request, we are sharing this list of resources. Included are the initial recommendations from our community member (who sent a great starting list), a number of other resources. We also highlight from the wealth of critical works made by our own scholars at the Graduate Center.
Like our statement, this list is a starting point. For the Mina Rees Library, there is more work to come beyond this post. We are sharing resources here in the hopes that it may be useful to those who, like us, are re-committing to anti-racist thought and action. By no means is this an exhaustive list of materials that confront power and oppression, or Black life in America. Our next steps include using this list for further discussion within the library, and creating a reading group as a staff. We will also review these materials in relationship to our broader collections (cough #FundCUNY).
Improve this list by contributing resources to the shared Graduate Center Library Anti-Racism and #blacklivesmatter Reading List on Zotero, including this sub-collection on the histories of Black communities in Minnesota. (In case you need a refresher, read more on the Zotero groups support page, consult our Using Zotero guide, or attend a Zotero Help drop-in session.)
From the Graduate Center
- 13 Scholars Shedding Light on the Roots of Racial Injustice from the Graduate Center
- Daniels, Jessie. Cyber Racism: White Supremacy Online and the New Attack on Civil Rights. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009. (Ebook Central ebook)
- Davis, Dána-Ain. Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth. New York University Press, 2019. (JSTOR ebook)
- Etoké, Nathalie. Melancholia Africana: The Indispensable Overcoming of the Black Condition. Rowman & Littlefield International, Ltd, 2019. (Ebsco ebook)
- Gilmore, Ruth Wilson. Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. University of California Press, 2018. (JSTOR ebook) (Internet Archive ebook)
- Jones, James M., et al. The Psychology of Diversity: Beyond Prejudice and Racism. 2014. (Ebook Central ebook)
- Lott, Eric. Black Mirror: The Cultural Contradictions of American Racism. Harvard University Press, 2017. (Ebsco ebook)
- Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Cornell University Press, 1999. (JSTOR ebook) (Internet Archive ebook)
- Shedd, Carla. Unequal City: Race, Schools, and Perceptions of Injustice. Russell Sage Foundation, 2015. (JSTOR ebook)
- Taylor, Clarence. Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City. 2019. (JSTOR ebook)
- Williams, Bianca C. The Pursuit of Happiness: Black Women, Diasporic Dreams, and the Politics of Emotional Transnationalism. Duke University Press, 2018. (JSTOR ebook)
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“Historicizing Black Resistance in the U.S.” American Social History Project Center for Media and Learning, https://ashp.cuny.edu/historicizing-black-resistance-us.
- Many of our students use their time at the Graduate Center to advance anti-racist action and focus on black lives in their scholarship. Among just this year’s graduates, Roxanne Shirazi summarizes:
- “Graduate Center dissertations address today’s urgent concerns on topics like stop and frisk; the Ferguson effect; the Freddie Gray uprising; and the relationship between the police and the democratic state from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.”
- Browse more dissertations and theses in CUNY Academic Works.
Syllabi
- How to be an Antiracist, Ibrahm X. Kendi
- Intro to Critical Race Theory, Adrienne Keene
- Reparations Syllabus, an offshoot of the “Reparations, Repatriation, and Redress” symposium at the University of Minnesota
Library Study Guides
- Carol Grotnes Belk Library: Anti-Racism Resources by Libby Conyner
- University of Southern California: Anti-Racist Pedagogy Guide, a joint effort of the USC Libraries and the Anti-Racist Pedagogy Organizing Committee
- Twitter thread of library libguides on antiracism
Reading Lists
- Anti-Racism Resources list compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein
- Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages a project by the Augusta Baker Chair
- Black Liberation Reading List from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- Black Lives Matter Reading List by Feminist Press
- Eight Recommended Books by Women to Understand the Uprisings from Ms.
- Haymarket Books Against Policing and Mass Incarceration
- Reading Towards Abolition: A Reading List on Policing, Rebellion, and the Criminalization of Blackness compiled by the Abusable Past Collective
- Teaching in an Uprising: Readings on Race and Democracy by Trish Kahle
Books
- Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New Press, 2010. (Ebook Central ebook) (Also available in print)
- Anderson, Carol. White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Bloomsbury, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Modern Library, 1995. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel & Grau, 2017. (Ebsco ebook)
- Cooper, Brittney C. Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower. St. Martin’s Press, 2019.
- Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press, 2003. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Davis, Angela Y., and Frank Barat. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. Haymarket Books, 2016. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Davis, Angela Y., and Robin D. G. Kelley. The Meaning of Freedom. City Lights Books, 2012. (Internet Archive ebook)
- DiAngelo, Robin J. White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk about Racism. Beacon Press, 2018. (Ebsco ebook)
- Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk; Essays and Sketches. A. C. McClurg & Co., 1920. (Also available in print)
- Eddo-Lodge, Reni. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Grove Press, 2021. (Also available in print)
- Forman, James. Locking up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- hooks, bell. Killing Rage: Ending Racism. Henry Holt and Company, 2006. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Kendi, Ibram X. How to Be an Antiracist. One World, 2019.
- Khan-Cullors, Patrisse. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. St. Martin’s Press, 2018.
- Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Crossing Press, 2007. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Lowery, Wesley. They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of the Struggle for Black Lives. Back Bay Books, 2016. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Harvard University Press, 2019. (Ebsco ebook) (Internet Archive ebook)
- Oluo, Ijeoma. So You Want to Talk about Race. Seal Press, 2019.
- Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Ritchie, Andrea J. Invisible No More: Police Violence against Black Women and Women of Color. Beacon Press, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Ross, Lawrence C. Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses. Griffin, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Saad, Layla F. Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor. Sourcebooks, 2020.
- Stevenson, Bryan. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. One World, 2020. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Haymarket Books, 2016. (Ebook Central ebook)
- Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta, editor. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective. Haymarket Books, 2017. (Ebook Central ebook)
- Thompson, Heather Ann. Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. Vintage Books, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Vitale, Alex S. The End of Policing. Verso, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Walker, Anders. The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America. Yale University Press, 2018.
- Ward, Jesmyn, ed. The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race. Scribner, 2017. (Internet Archive ebook)
- Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Vintage Books, 2011. (Internet Archive ebook)
For further action
- Ways You Can Help from Black Lives Matter
- 10 Steps to Non-Optical Allyship
- Antiracist Allyship Starter Pack & How To Be a Better Ally by Tatum Dorrell, Matt Herndon and Jourdan Dorrell
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
- From Beirut To Minneapolis: A Protest Guide in Solidarity
- Joining the Movement for Black Lives, space by and for the CUNY Law community and fellow legal advocates and grassroots organizers is to activate support of the movement for Black lives, a growing list of resources
- The Blackivists’ Five Tips for Organizers, Protestors, and Anyone Documenting Movements
- We here page of suggested actions
- A list of 200+ Black photographers covering the protests to follow (and promote!)
- Graphics:
- The Movement Pack: images to fight racial inequality for use in social media and digital projects by black illustrations
- Justseeds downloadable graphics: These graphics are free for people to use on flyers, posters, banners, t-shirts, and websites–see the top of the page for other requests and restrictions
Image by Nicolas Lampert from Justseeds
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license.
This is a fine compilation. Just shared to my Twitter feed. Will post on Fb, too.