Big topics, on all of our minds. There are some excellent resources available, as a place to start, or a way to continue listening and learning. The following are available from Pasadena Public Library–in print, eBook, audiobook or multiple formats.
This list is compiled from suggestions from The New York Times, other public libraries, and Pasadena Public Library staff recommendations. If you have your own recommended titles, please share them with us in the comments.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
I Am Not Your Negro written by James Baldwin [Documentary DVD]
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi
Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
The Central Park Five written and directed by Sarah Burns & David McMahon & Ken Burns [Documentary DVD]
Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Just Mercy written by Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham [DVD based on the true story]
Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Fiction)
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman, Jr.
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Edim Glory
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel Joseph
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
Murder On a Sunday Morning a film by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade [Documentary DVD]
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
Sister Ousider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock
Beloved by Toni Morrison (Fiction)
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Fiction)
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect On America by Nikesh Shukla
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privelege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn