The MCLS Change Team for the St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center Racial, Equity, Justice Initiative compiled reading lists and resources for all ages regarding anti-racism, implicit bias, and social justice as an educational starting point for the community.
This resource page has been designed with the following in mind: Racism is a complex, interconnected system of institutional policies and individual prejudices that were created hundreds of years ago and have been perpetuated throughout American history to justify enslavement, segregation, assimilation, violence, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. In order to undo this system, we need to learn its history, identify its mechanisms, and actively dismantle them.
Where to begin?
Un-learning the systemic racism in our culture is a process. It won’t be done with one book, or one video, and it can definitely be overwhelming. Have patience with yourself as you start to get uncomfortable and as you start this journey. It won’t happen in a day, and that is okay.
Here are a few resources to get started:
- Dear White People: What is the Work and How do we Do it? (article)
- Racial Injustice in America: Embracing Potential Opportunities (article)
- The Divide Within Us (article)
- Black Lives Matter (website)
- Scaffolded Anti-racism resource list (articles, books, videos)
Learning the History and Impact of Racism and White Supremacy
Online Resources
- History of Racism and Movements (website)
- Talks to Help You Understand Racism in America (videos)
- Systemic Racism Explained (video)
- Rochester’s History of Segregation Still Shape City Schools (article)
- How Rochester’s Growing City and Suburbs Excluded Black Residents (article)
- Hard Facts: Race and Ethnicity in the Nine County Greater Rochester Area (report)
- The New York Times 1619 Project (articles)
- The 1619 (podcast)
- Seeing White (podcast)
- Uncivil (podcast)
- Overt vs Covert White Supremacy Pyramid (image)
- End the War on Black People (website)
- Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Cope (website)
Nonfiction Books on the History of Racism and White Supremacy
(click on titles to be taken to the MCLS catalog or consider buying from a Black Owned Independent Bookstore)
- Stamped from the Beginning: Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Ibram X. Kendi *
- Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson *
- White Rage, Carol Anderson *
- An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz *
- Pushout, Monique W. Morris * ( Watch the documentary based on the book here! )
- New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander *
- Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson *
- Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates *
- Racecraft: Soul of Inequality in American Life, Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields
- Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics and Big Business Recreate Race in the 21st Century, Dorothy Roberts *
- Color of Law: Forgotten History of how our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein *
- Buried in Bitter Waters: Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America, Eliott Jaspin
- When Affirmative Action was White: Untold Story of Racial Inequality in the 21st Century America, Ira Katznelson *
- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Edward Baptist *
- The Yellow House, Sarah Broom *
- Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward *
- Heavy, Kiese Laymon *
*These titles are also available as ebooks and/or audiobooks through Overdrive
Fiction Books Addressing Racism
- Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche *
- The Hate You Give, Angie Thomas *
- Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi *
- Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead *
- Lesson before Dying, Ernset J. Gaines *
- Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin *
- Beloved, Toni Morrison *
- We Cast a Shadow, Maurice Carlos Ruffin
- An American Marriage, Tayari Jones *
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston *
- The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison *
*These titles are also available as ebooks and/or audiobooks through Overdrive
Learning our Individual Role in Racism and White Supremacy
Implicit Bias
- We Are All Biased, But How Do We Confront It? (video)
- Understanding Unconscious Bias (podcast episode)
- Project Implicit, Harvard University (activity)
- Anti-Defamation League’s Pyramid of Hate (image)
White Fragility and White Privilege
- Deconstructing White Privilege (video)
- Discussing White Fragility (video)
- What is White Privilege, Really? (article)
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack (article)
Books on Becoming Anti-Racist
- How to be an Anti-Racist, Ibram X. Kendi *
- Me and White Supremacy, Layla Saad *
- So You Want to Talk about Race, Ijeoma Oluo *
- White Fragility, Robin D’Angelo *
- Waking Up White, Debby Irving *
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge *
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations on Race, Beverly Daniel Tatum *
*These titles are also available as ebooks and/or audiobooks through Overdrive
Resources for Parents and Children
For Younger Children
- How to Talk to Kids about Black Lives and Police Violence (article)
- Embrace Race (articles, webinars, action guides, and children’s books)
- National Association for the Education of Young Children Guide to Talking with Children About Big World Issues (article)
- Anti-Racism For Kids 101 (article)
- Teaching Tolerance: Black Lives Matter (website)
- Talking about Race with Youth Learning Module (articles, videos, and activities)
- 19 Black Children’s Books by Black Authors (booklist)
- Available on Overdrive (booklist)
- Raising Race Conscious Children (booklist)
- Books to Teach White Children and Teens How to Undo Racism (booklist)
- Black Minds Matter, Teaching for Tolerance (website)
Fiction and Nonfiction Reads for Teens and Tweens
- All American Boys, Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely *
- Black Enough, Ibi Zoboi *
- Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, Phillip M. Hoose
- Dear Martin, Nic Stone *
- Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes *
- The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas *
- I Am Alfonso Jones, Tony Medina
- March, John Lewis *
- Stamped: Racism, Antracism, and You, Jason Reynolds, adapted from Stamped from the Beginning by and with an introduction by Ibram X Kendi *
- This Book is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work, Tiffany Jewell *
- Tyler Johnson Was Here, Jay Coles *
- We Are Not Yet Equal, Carol Anderson *
- A Wreath for Emmett Till, Marilyn Nelson
*These titles are also available as ebooks and/or audiobooks through Overdrive.
Local Resources
Businesses and Organizations to Support
- Black Owned Businesses
- Rochester Black Owned Restaurants
- Black Lives Matter Rochester
- WOC Art Collaborative
- Flower City Noire Collective
- Teen Empowerment
- Rochester Black Pride
News Sources
This resource page was compiled by members of the MCLS Racial Equity & Justice Initiative Team through St. Joseph’s Neighborhood
Additional reading: Understanding Black Experiences, compiled by staff of the Rochester Public Library.