Statement of Purpose
This guide is intended to be a resource for our Utah State University community to better understand issues related to racial justice. This resource was developed in response to nationwide events in spring and summer of 2020. The hope is these resources will be used by USU community members for individual processing and growth, as well as in their teaching and learning.
We view this guide as a work in progress, and will continue to build the content to support deeper dives into these complex topics. We value your suggested resources to support our community learning. Please send us suggestions through this Qualtrics survey.
We acknowledge a reading list alone is not the solution, but resources such as these are a valuable starting point. For lists like these to be meaningful, the resulting learning must be translated into personal and collective action. For more about these ideas, see Lauren Michele Jackson’s article “What Is an Anti-Racist Reading List For?” (Vulture, 2020). Places to get involved at USU are listed on the “USU Resources” tab on this guide.
Places to Start
The resources on this guide will be reorganized as we add more content. For now, here are some places to start.
Books
- Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce RacismSafiya Umoja Noble (2018)
- Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression in PeopleAnne Bishop (2002)
- Between the World and MeTa-Nehisi Coats (2015)
- Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good PeopleMahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald (2016)
- The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the the United StatesWalter Johnson (2020)
- Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial ViolenceChad Williams, Kidada E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blai (2016)
- Citizen: An American LyricClaudia Rankine (2014)
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated AmericaRichard Rothstein (2017)
- The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban AmericaKhalil Gibran Muhammad (2010)
- Courageous Conversations About Race: a Field Guide for Achieving Equity in SchoolsGlenn E. Singleton (2006)
- Covering: the Hidden Assault on Our Civil RightsKenji Yoshino (2006)
- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her SuperpowerBrittney Cooper (2019)
- The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin (1963)
- Freedom is a Constant StruggleAngela Y. Davis (2016)
- From #BlackLivesMatter to Black LiberationKeeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (2016)
- Heavy: an American MemoirKiese Laymon (2018)
- The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive EconomyAndrea Flynn, Susan R. Holmberg, Dorian T. Warren, and Felicia J. Wong (2017)
- How to Be an AntiracistIbram X. Kendi (2019)
- How to Be Less Stupid About RaceCrystal Fleming (2018)
- Just MercyBryan Stevenson (2014)
- Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona JudgeErica Armstrong Dunbar (2017)
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of ColorblindnessMichelle Alexander (2010) | USU Community Recommendation
- One Person, No VoteCarol Anderson (2019)
- A Race Is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your LifeJanet E. Helms (2019)
- Race MattersCornel West (1993)
- Sister Outsider: Essays and SpeechesAudre Lorde (1984)
- So You Want to Talk About RaceIjeoma Oluo (2018)
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in AmericaIbram X. Kendi (2016)
- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of ColorCherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua (1983)
- When They Call you a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter MemoirPatrisse Khan-Cullor and Asha Bandele (2018)
- Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can DoClaude M. Steele (2010)
- White Fragility: Why It's So HardRobin Diangelo (2018)
- White RageCarol Anderson (2016)
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About RaceBeverly Daniel Tatum (2003)
- Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about RaceReni Eddo-Lodge (2017)
Articles
- 27 Mistakes White Teachers of Black Students Make and How to Fix ThemJay Wamsted (2020)
- Anti-Racism DefinedAlberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
- Becoming Trustworthy White AlliesMelanie S. Morrison (2013)
- Being AntiracistNational Museum of African American History and Culture (2019)
- Explainer: What is Systemic Racism and Institutional Racism?Mary Frances O'Dowd (2020)
- How Ibram X. Kendi's Definition of Antiracism Applies to SchoolsKatrina Schwartz (2019)
- How to Respond to MicroaggressionsHahna Yoon (2020)
- The Intersectionality WarsJane Coaston (2019)
- Understanding White PrivilegeFrancis E. Kendall, Ph.D. (2002)
- What is White Privilege, Really?Cory Collins (2018)
- When We Fully Claim Black Lives Matter, We Move Closer to All Lives Matterjohn a. powell (2015)
Videos
- #APeoplesJourney: African American Women and the Struggle for Equality (3 min)National Museum of African American History & Culture
- Deconstructing White Privilege (20 min)Dr. Robin DiAngelo (2018)
- Ijeoma Oluo: "So You Want to Talk About Race" (51 min)Talks at Google (2018)
- Sometimes You're A Caterpillar (3 min)Chescaleigh & Kat Blaque (2015)
- What is Systemic Racism? (8 videos, 1 min each)Race Forward (2015)
Other resources
Reading lists
- Anti-Racism Resources ListSarah Sophie Flicker & Alyssa Klein (2020)
- A List of 15 Podcasts about Race RelationsGood Housekeeping (2020)
- A Reading List on Issues of RaceThe Harvard Gazette (2020)
- Scaffolded Anti-Racist ResourcesAnna Stamborski, Nikki Zimmermann, & Bailie Gregory (2020)
Teaching and learning resources
- Talking About Race websiteSmithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (2019)
- Teaching Tolerance websiteSouthern Poverty Law Center
History resources
- BlackPast websiteBlackPast.org
- The 1619 ProjectThe New York Times (2019)
- I Helped Fact-Check the 1619 Project. The Times Ignored Me.Leslie M. Harris (2020)
Contribute to this Guide
This resource guide is neither exhaustive nor complete. The USU Libraries would like this to be an ongoing project that we create with the input of our USU community. If you would like to contribute a reading or a resource about antiracism, equity, diversity, and inclusion you have found powerful, please submit it via our Qualtrics recommendation form. You may choose to have your contribution remain anonymous or not.
We will review submissions on a regular basis. We will update this guide to include serious contributions that contribute to the intentions and purpose of this space.
If you have overall questions or comments about this guide please contact us at library.help@usu.edu.
Credits
This guide was inspired by the University of Washington’s “Recommended Reads for Equity” project and borrowed the title from its “Racial Justice Resources” page. We also used the USU Honors Program’s “Summer Listening, Viewing, and Reading Suggestions” collection as a model.
Statement of Solidarity
The USU Libraries condemns racism and violence against Black people and all people of color. Black Lives Matter.
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