Anti-Racism and #BlackLivesMatter Resources

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

Syllabi

Library Study Guides

Reading Lists

Books

For further action

Image of Alicia Garza with the quote: "Every successful social movement in this country's history has used disruption as a strategy to fight for social change." #blacklivesmatter

Image by Nicolas Lampert from Justseeds

About the Author

Alycia Sellie is the Associate Librarian for Collections at the Graduate Center Library.