Reading for Change: Library Recommendations to Learn More About Anti-Racism

Literary Scholar, Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop says books are “windows, mirrors, and sliding doors,” allowing us to explore other cultures and experience new ideas.  

There are many wonderful resources available for self-education and growth, including those listed below. Feel free to put titles on hold online at pickeringtonlibrary.org or call the library at either location for more recommendations. You may also reach out by email at pplrefstaff@pickeringtonlibrary.org with any questions or book recommendation needs.   

Nonfiction Books:  

• “Stamped from the Beginning,” by Ibram X. Kendi
  
• “Stamped (Young People’s Version),” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
  
• “Just Mercy,” by Bryan Stevenson 
  
• “Just Mercy (Young People’s Version),” by Bryan Stevenson
  
• “White Fragility,” by Robin DiAngelo
  
• “How to be Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi
  
• “White Rage,” by Carol Anderson
  
• “When They Call You A Terrorist,” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele 
  
• “We Are Not Yet Equal,” by Carol Anderson
  
• “So You Wanna Talk,“ About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  
• “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander
  
• “To Protect and Serve,” by Norm Stamper
  
• “The Fire Next Time,” by James Baldwin
  
• “The Fire This Time,” by Jesmyn Ward
  
• “Fatal Invention,” by Dorothy Roberts
  
• “Racism Without Racists,” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
  
• “Sister Outsider,” by Audre Lorde
• “Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  
• “Eloquent Rage,” by Brittney Cooper
  
• “The African-American and Latinx History of the United States,” by Paul Ortiz 
  
• “The Making of Black Lives Matter,” by Christopher Lebron 
  
• “Black Lives Matter,” by Sue Bradford Edwards
• “Tears We Cannot Stop,” by Michael Dyson
  
• “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla Saad
  
• “Have Black Lives Ever Mattered?” By Mumia Abu-Jamal 
  
• “This Book Is Anti-Racist,” by Tiffany Jewell
  
• “Citizen.” by Claudia Rankine
  
• “Policing the Black Man,” by Angela Davis
  
• “The Blood of Emmett Till,” by Timothy Tyson 
  
• “Unapologetic,” by Charlene Carruthers 
  
• “Things That Make White People Uncomfortable,” by Michael Bennett 
  
• “Defining Moments in Black History,” by Dick Gregory  
  
• “On the Other Side of Freedom,” by DeRay Mckesson

DVDs: 

• John Lewis: Get In The Way 
• I Am Not Your Negro 
• What Happened, Miss Simone?
  
• Just Mercy 
• Hoopla Collection »

Digital Resources: 

• Website of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in D.C.
  
• Civil rights reader guide from the Library of Congress
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
• PBS
• National Archives