Race and Racism: Books for Adults

Anti-Racism Task Force, First Presbyterian Church—Albany 

(* = good ones to start with)

Race, Racism and Anti-racism

• Allen, Theodore W., The Invention of the White Race, Vols. 1 and 2, Verso, 1994 & 1997, 2012.
• Anderson, Carol, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, Bloomsbury, 2016.
• Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo, Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and Persistence of Racial Inequality in America, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.
• *DiAngelo, Robin, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Beacon Press, 2018.
• Eddo-Lodge, Reni, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Bloomsbury, 2019.
• Fleming, Crystal Marie, How to Be Less Stupid About Race, Boston Press, 2018.
• Kendi, Ibram X., Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Nation Books, 2016.
• Kendi, Ibram X., How to Be an Antiracist, One World, 2019.
• Kivel, Paul, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice, New Society Publishers, 1996, 2017.
• *Oluo, Ijeoma, So You Want to Talk About Race, Seal Press, 2018.
• Painter, Nell Irvin, The History of White People, W.W. Norton, 2010.
• *Saad, Layla, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, Sourcebooks, 2020.
• Takaki, Ronald, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, Back Bay Books, 1993, 2008.
• Wilkerson, Isabel, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Random House, 2020.

Bias and Stereotypes, More Generally

• Banaji, Mahzarin R. and Greenwald, Anthony G., Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, Bantam Books, 2016.
• Chugh, Dolly, The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias, Harper Business, 2018.
• Steele, Claude M., Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, W.W. Norton and Co., 2010.

Resistance, Activism, Advocacy and Allyship

• Blow, Charles, The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto, Harper, 2021.
• Camahort Page, Elisa, Gerin, Carolyn, and Wilson, Jamia, Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism and Advocacy for All, Ten Speed Press, 2018.
• Jackson, Catrice M., Antagonists, Advocates and Allies: The Wake Up Call Guide for White Women Who Want to Become Allies with Black Women, Emerge Consulting, 2015.
• Solomon, Akiba, and Rankin, Kenrya, How We Fight White Supremacy: A Fieldguide to Black Resistance, Bold Type Books, 2019.

Faith Perspectives

• Cleveland, Christena, Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart, InterVarsity Press, 2013.
• Connelly, Kerry, Good White Racist? Confronting Your Role in Racial Injustice, Westminster John Knox Press, 2020.
• Craigo-Snell, Shannon and Doucot, Christopher, No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice, Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.
• DeYoung, Curtis Paul, Coming Together in the 21^st Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity, Judson Press, expanded 2^nd edition, 1994, 2009.
• Duncan, Lenny, Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US, Fortress Press, 2019.
• Dyson, Michael Eric, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, St. Martin’s Press, 2017
• Gilbreath, Edward, Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical’s Inside View of White Christianity, InterVarsity Press Books, 2006.
• Findlay, James F, Jr, Church People in the Struggles – The National Council of Churches and the Black Freedom Movement, 1950-1970., Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Hart, Drew G. I., Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism, Herald Press, 2016.
• Harvey, Jennifer, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation, Eerdmans, 2014.
• *Helsel, Carolyn B., Anxious to Talk About It? Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism, Chalice Press, 2017.
• Helsel, Carolyn B., Preaching About Racism: A Guide for Faith Leaders, Chalice Press, 2018.
• *Hill, Daniel, White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White, InterVarsity Press, 2017.
• Jones, Robert P., White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, Simon & Schuster, 2020.
• Lewis, Jacqueline J. Lewis and Janka, John, Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation, Westminster John Knox Press, 2018.
• Maxwell, David, Editor, Race in a Post-Obama America: The Church Responds, Westminster John Knox Press, 2016
• Morrison, Latasha, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation, WaterBrook, 2019.
• Sanders, Cody & Yarber, Angela, Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church, Westminster, John Knox Press, 2015
• Tisby, Jemar, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism, Zondervan, 2019.
• Walker-Barnes, Chanequa, I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation, Eerdmans, 2019.
• Wallis, Jim, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, Brazos Press, 2016.

Feminism & Intersectionality

• Crenshaw, Kimberle, “On Intersectionality: Essential Writings,” in Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, ed. by Kimberle Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas, The New Press, 1996.
• Davis, Angela Y., Women, Race and Class, Vintage, 1983.
• Hooks, Bell (aka Watkins, Gloria Jean), Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, Routledge, 1981, 2014.
• Kendall, Mikki, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot, Penguin Books, 2020.
• Lorde, Audre, Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, Penguin Classics, 1984, 2020.
• Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta, How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Haymarket Books, 2012.
• White, Deborah Gray, Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, 1894-1994, W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.

Parenting

• Hagerman, Margaret, White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America, NYU Press, 2018.
• Harvey, Jennifer, Raising White Kids: Bringing Up White Kids in a Racially Unjust America, Abingdon Press, 2018.

Biography, Autobiography and Memoir

• Allen, Danielle, Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A., Liveright, 2017.
• Anderson, Maggie, Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, PublicAffairs, 2012.
• Angelou, Maya, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Random House, 1969, 2009. 
• Blight, David W., Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, Simon & Schuster, 2018.
• Blow, Charles M., Fire Shut Up In My Bones, Charles M. Blow, 2014.
• Brown, Austin Channing, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Convergent Books, 2018. 
• Cooper, Brittney, Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, St. Martin’s Press, 2018.
• Douglass, Frederick, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Prestwick House, 1845, 2005.
• Ford, Ashley, Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir, Flatiron Books, 2021.
• Gandhi, Mohandes K., Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Dover Publications, 1927.
• Glaude, Eddie, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, Crown, 2020.
• Hobbs, Jeff, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League, Scribner, 2014.
• Hurston, Zora Neale, Baracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” Amistad, 2018.
• *Irving, Debby, Waking Up White: and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, Elephant Room Press, 2014.
• Joseph, Peniel E., The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., Basic Books, 2020.
• Khan-Cullors, Patrisse, and Bandele, Asha, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, St. Martin’s Press, 2018.
• Laymon, Kiese, Heavy, Scribner, 2018.
• Lemon, Don, This Is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism, Little, Brown and Co., 2021
• Mandela, Nelson, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, Back Bay Books, 1994.
• Meacham, Jon, His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope, Random House, 2020.
• Obama, Barack, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, Times Books, 1995.
• Okri, Ben, The Famished Road, Jonathan Cape, 1991.
• Washington, Booker T., Up From Slavery, Seawolf Press, 1901, 2020.
• Wise, Tim, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, Soft Skull Press, 2011.
• Wright, Richard, Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1945, 2007.
• X, Malcolm, and Haley, Alex, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Grove Press, 1965.

Essays

• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, We Should All Be Feminists, Anchor Books, 2015.
• Baldwin, James, Collected Essays, Library of America, 1998.
• Coates, Ta-Nehisi, Between the World and Me, Spiegel and Grau, 2015.
• DuBois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk, G & D Media, 1903, 2019.
• Jenkins, Morgan, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female and Feminist in (White) America, Harper Perennial, 2018.
• Kendi, Ibram, and Keisha Blain, eds., Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, One World, 2021.
• King, Martin Luther, Jr. (author), and Washington, James (ed.), A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches, HarperOne, 2003.
• Laymon, Kiese, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Agate Bolden, 2013.
• Mckesson, DeRay, On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope, Viking, 2018.
• Moore, Eddie, Jr., Penick-Parks, Marguerite W., and Michael, Ali, eds., Everyday White People Confront Racial & Social Injustice: 15 Stories, Stylus Publishing, 2015.
• Ward, Jesmyn, ed., The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race (anthology), Scribner, 2016.
• Wells, Ida B., The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader, Penguin, 2014.

Literary Criticism

• Morrison, Toni, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, Harvard University Press, 1992

Nonfiction on…

Slavery

• Ball, Edward, Slaves in the Family, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998.
• Jones-Rogers, Stephanie, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, Yale University Press, 2019.
• Litwack, Leon, North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1961.
• Smith, Clint, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, Little, Brown and Co., 2021.
• Civil War and Reconstruction (1860’s – 1870’s)
• Foner, Eric, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 1988, 2014.
• Gordon-Reed, Annette, On Juneteenth, Liveright, 2021. 

Jim Crow Era (1870’s – 1950’s)

• Anderson, James D., The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860–1935, Univ. of N. Carolina Press, 1988.
• Blackmon, Douglas A., Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, Doubleday, 2008.
• Muhammad, Khalil Gibran, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America, Harvard Univ. Press, 2010.
• Rothstein, Richard, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Government Segregated America, Liveright, 2017.
• Thomas J. Sugrue’s The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit, Princeton Univ. Press, 1996.
• Wilkerson, Isabel, The Warmth of Other Suns, Vintage, 2011.

Civil Rights Era (1950’s – 1960’s)

• Branch, Taylor, America in the King Years: Parting the Waters, 1954-1963; Pillar of Fire, 1963-65; At Canaan’s Edge, 1965-68, Simon & Schuster, 1988, 1998, 2006.
• King, Martin Luther, Jr., Why We Can’t Wait, Signet Classics, 1964, 2000.
• Theoharis, Jeanne, A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, Beacon Press, 2019.

Mass Incarceration

• *Alexander, Michelle, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, The New Press, 2010.
• Hinton, Elizabeth, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America, Harvard Univ. Press, 2016.
• Davis, Angela, Are Prisons Obsolete?, Open Media Series, 2003.
• Forman, James, Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.
• *Stevenson, Bryan, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Spiegel & Grau, 2015.

Police Violence

• Butler, Paul, Chokehold: Policing Black Men, The New Press, 2017.
• Lowery, Wesley, They Can’t Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter, Penguin, 2017.
• Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Haymarket Books, 2019.

Health

• DeGruy, Joy, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, Joy DeGruy Publications, 2017.
• Menakem, Resmaa, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, Central Recovery Press, 2017.
• *Skloot, Rebeca, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Crown, 2010.
• Washington, Harriet A., Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, Doubleday, 2007.

Education

• Love, Bettina, We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom, Beacon Press, 2019.
• Morris, Monique, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools, The New Press, 2016.
• Tatum, Beverly Daniel, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: and Other Conversations About Race, Basic Books, 1997, 2017.
• Woodson, Carter, The Mis-Education of the Negro, 12^th Media Services, 1933, 2017.

Economics

• Baptist, Edward E., The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Basic Books, 2016.
• Baradaran, Mehrsa, The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, Harvard Univ. Press, 2017.
• McGee, Heather, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, One World, 2021.
• Shapiro, Thomas M., Toxic Inequality: How America’s Wealth Gap Destroys Mobility, Deepens the Racial Divide, and Threatens Our Future, Basic Books, 2017.

Housing

• Desmond, Mathew, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Crown, 2016.

The Environment

• Squires, Veronica, and Lathrop, Breanna, How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick: Restoring Health and Wellness to Our Communities, IVP, 2019.

Voting

• Anderson, Carol, One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
• Berman, Ari, Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016.

Statistics

• Morris, Monique, Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-first Century, The New Press, 2014. 

Fiction

• Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, Anchor Books, 1958, 1994.
• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, Americanah, Knopf, 2013.
• Baldwin, James, Go Tell It On the Mountain, Vintage International, 1953, 2013.
• Bennett, Brit, The Vanishing Half: A Novel, Riverhead Books, 2020.
• Coates Ta-Nahesi, The Water Dancer: A Novel, One World, 2019.
• Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man, Modern Library, 1952, 1994.
• Gyasi, Yaa, Homegoing, Knopf, 2016.
• Hughes, Langston, The Ways of White Folks: Stories, Vintage Classics, 1934, 1993
• Hurston, Zora Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Amistad, 1937, 2006.
• Johnson, Charles, Middle Passage, Atheneum, 1990.
• Jones, Tayari, An American Marriage: A Novel, Algonquin Books, 2018.
• Larsen, Nella, Passing, Penguin Classics, 1929, 2003.
• Lee, Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper, 1960, 2002.
• Morrison, Toni, The Bluest Eye, Vintage International, 1970, 2007.
• Morrison, Toni, Beloved, Vintage International, 1987, 1997.
• Paton, Alan, Cry, the Beloved Country, Scribners, 1948.
• Walker, Alice, The Color Purple, Penguin, 1982, 2019.
• Ward, Jesmyn, Sing, Unburied, Sing, Scribner, 2017.
• Whitehead, Colson, The Underground Railroad, Doubleday, 2016.
• Woodson, Jacqueline, Red at the Bone: A Novel, Riverhead Books, 2019.
• Wright, Richard, Native Son, Library of America, 1940, 1991.

Poetry

• Gorman, Amanda, The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country, Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021. 
• Hughes, Langston, The Collected Poems, Vintage, 1995.
• Rankine, Claudia, Citizen: An American Lyric, Graywolf Press, 2014.
• Reed, Justin Phillip, Indecency, Coffee House Press, 2018.
• Smith, Danez, Don’t Call Us Dead: Poems, Graywolf Press, 2017.

(updated June, 2021)