Appily’s Commitment to Anti-Racism
Since 2006, Appily has had one vision: connect every student to the opportunity that will empower them to make their highest impact on the world. In an effort to bridge inequities in college access, Appily founded College Greenlight, a program focused on serving underrepresented students, those coming from low-income families, those of color, and first-generation. We provide critical resources and solutions to help all students navigate the college selection and application process so they can find the best fit colleges for their long-term success.
The recent injustices have shown us something important, though: we need to do more.
Appily and College Greenlight stand in solidarity with the Black community and all communities who have faced systemic and racial injustice. We strongly believe in our mission to expand college access and completion amongst students inflicted by systemic barriers. We have a responsibility to raise the voices of the unheard. We must provide a greater opportunity to build our nation's future in a more just, diverse, inclusive, and equitable way—against discrimination. Our work continues as we strive for progress and change—in partnership with our communities of color who are hurting. We see you and we are here for you. Black Lives Matter. You and your future matter.
To purposefully achieve the change we need to impact racial inequality, we must begin by listening and learning and being committed to the introspection that enables us collectively and individually to modify our beliefs and behaviors. We are providing some recommended reading and video/audio links from key authors whose thought leadership enlightens and promotes deeper understanding. We hope to expand this list by asking our community—students, colleges, and college access leaders—to share additional references so that this is a living library that we can all share.
Educational Resources
* Indicates a Black-owned bookstore
Non-Fiction
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
Where To Find It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*,
Synopsis: The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of the caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to permanent second-class status— denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatem, PhD
Where To Find It: The Sisters Uptown Bookstore*, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Synopsis: Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides.
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Where to Find It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: Award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge was frustrated with the way that discussions of race and racism are so often led by those blind to it, by those willfully ignorant of its legacy. Her response, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, has transformed the conversation both in Britain and around the world. Examining everything from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, from whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge, and counter racism.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Ashay By the Bay*
Synopsis: In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Twisted: The Tangled History of Black Hair Culture by Emma Dabiri
Where to Find It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Lit. Bar: Bookstore & Chill*
Synopsis: Through the lens of hair texture, Dabiri leads us on a historical and cultural investigation of the global history of racism―and her own personal journey of self-love and finally, acceptance. Deeply researched and powerfully resonant, Twisted proves that far from being only hair, black hairstyling culture can be understood as an allegory for black oppression and, ultimately, liberation.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women White Feminists Forgot by Mikki Kendall
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, The Lit. Bar: Bookstore & Chill*
Synopsis: Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin J. DiAngelo
Where to Find It: Ashay By The Bay*, Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Synopsis: In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Cultured Books*
Synopsis: Two kids named Wes Moore were born blocks apart within a year of each other. Both grew up fatherless in similar Baltimore neighborhoods and had difficult childhoods; both hung out on street corners with their crews; both ran into trouble with the police. How, then, did one grow up to be a Rhodes Scholar, decorated veteran, White House Fellow, and business leader, while the other ended up a convicted murderer serving a life sentence?
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books And Crannies*
Synopsis: Spanning more than two hundred years, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is a revolutionary, politically charged narrative history, arguing that the “Global South” was crucial to the development of America as we know it. Scholar and activist Paul Ortiz challenges the notion of westward progress as exalted by widely taught formulations like “manifest destiny” and “Jacksonian democracy,” and shows how placing African American, Latinx, and Indigenous voices unapologetically front and center transforms US history into one of the working class organizing against imperialism.
How To Be An AntiRacist by Ibram X. Kendi
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science with his own personal story of awakening to antiracism. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to go beyond the awareness of racism to the next step: contributing to the formation of a just and equitable society.
Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?: Police Violence and Resistance in the United States by Alicia Garza, Maya Schenwar, and Joe Macaré
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: What is the reality of policing in the United States? Do the police keep anyone safe and secure other than the very wealthy? How do recent police killings of young black people in the United States fit into the historical and global context of anti-blackness? This collection of reports and essays (the first collaboration between Truthout and Haymarket Books) explores police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures. It also makes a compelling and provocative argument against calling the police.
Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognize Your Privilege, Combat Racism, and Change the World by Layla F. Saad
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Cultured Books*
Synopsis: Based on the viral Instagram challenge that captivated participants worldwide, Me and White Supremacy takes readers on a 28-day journey of how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible by Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: From education to work to dating, this inspirational, honest and provocative book recognises and celebrates the strides black women have already made, while providing practical advice for those who want to do the same and forge a better, visible future.
Biased: The New Science of Race and Inequality by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, The Lit. Bar: Bookstore & Chill*
Synopsis: How do we talk about bias? How do we address racial disparities and inequities? What role do our institutions play in creating, maintaining, and magnifying those inequities? What role do we play? With a perspective that is at once scientific, investigative, and informed by personal experience, Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt offers us the language and courage we need to face one of the biggest and most troubling issues of our time.
Democracy in Black by Eddie S. Claude, Jr.
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Fulton Street Books and Coffee*
Synopsis: America’s great promise of equality has always rung hollow in the ears of African Americans. But today the situation has grown even more dire. From the murders of black youth by the police, to the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, to the disaster visited upon poor and middle-class black families by the Great Recession, it is clear that black America faces an emergency—at the very moment the election of the first black president has prompted many to believe we’ve solved America’s race problem. Democracy in Black is Eddie S. Glaude Jr.'s impassioned response. Part manifesto, part history, part memoir, it argues that we live in a country founded on a “value gap”—with white lives valued more than others—that still distorts our politics today.
Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Mahogany Books*
Synopsis: Provocative and controversial, Rhoden’s $40 Million Slaves weaves a compelling narrative of black athletes in the United States, from the plantation to their beginnings in nineteenth-century boxing rings to the history-making accomplishments of notable figures such as Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, and Willie Mays. Rhoden reveals that black athletes’ “evolution” has merely been a journey from literal plantations—where sports were introduced as diversions to quell revolutionary stirrings—to today’s figurative ones, in the form of collegiate and professional sports programs.
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: The abolition of slavery in the aftermath of the Civil War is a familiar story, as is the civil rights revolution that transformed the nation after World War II. But the century in between remains a mystery: if emancipation sparked "a new birth of freedom" in Lincoln's America, why was it necessary to march in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s America? In this new book, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., one of our leading chroniclers of the African-American experience, seeks to answer that question in a history that moves from the Reconstruction Era to the "nadir" of the African-American experience under Jim Crow, through to World War I and the Harlem Renaissance.
Tell Me Who You Are by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore
Synopsis: In Tell Me Who You Are, Guo and Vulchi reveal the lines that separate us based on race or other perceived differences and how telling our stories—and listening deeply to the stories of others—are the first and most crucial steps we can take towards negating racial inequity in our culture. Featuring interviews with over 150 Americans accompanied by their photographs, this intimate toolkit also offers a deep examination of the seeds of racism and strategies for effecting change.
Memoir
I’M STILL HERE: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Fulton Street Books & Coffee*
Synopsis: Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors, asha bandele
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Raised by a single mother in an impoverished neighborhood in Los Angeles, Patrisse Khan-Cullors experienced firsthand the prejudice and persecution Black Americans endure at the hands of law enforcement. For Patrisse, the most vulnerable people in the country are Black people. Deliberately and ruthlessly targeted by a criminal justice system serving a white privilege agenda, Black people are subjected to unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality. In 2013, when Trayvon Martin’s killer went free, Patrisse’s outrage led her to co-found Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker: a memoir in essays by Damon Young
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Mahogany Books*
Synopsis: For Damon Young, existing while Black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst where questions such as “How should I react here, as a professional black person?” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me?” are forever relevant. What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker chronicles Young’s efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him.
More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say) by Elaine Welteroth
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Mahogany Books*
Synopsis: Throughout her life, Elaine Welteroth has climbed the ranks of media and fashion, shattering ceilings along the way. In this riveting and timely memoir, the groundbreaking journalist unpacks lessons on race, identity, and success through her own journey, from navigating her way as the unstoppable child of an unlikely interracial marriage in small-town California to finding herself on the frontlines of a modern movement for the next generation of change makers.
Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon,
Synopsis: We are a nation in denial about our imperial past and the racism that plagues our present. Brit(ish) is Afua Hirsch’s personal and provocative exploration of how this came to be – and an urgent call for change.
Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Fulton Street Books and Coffee*
Synopsis: Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob’s half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the media into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she’s gotten her own answers: her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and, of course, love.
Children’s Books
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story about Racial Injustice by Mariane Celano, Marietta Colline, Ann Hazzard
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children's questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives.
It’s Okay To Be Different by Todd Parr
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Told with Todd Parr's signature wit and wisdom, It's Okay to Be Different cleverly delivers the important messages of acceptance, understanding, and confidence in an accessible, child-friendly format. The book features the bold, bright colors and silly scenes that made Todd a premiere voice for emotional discussions in children's literature. Targeted to young children first beginning to read, this book will inspire kids to celebrate their individuality through acceptance of others and self-confidence—and it's never too early to develop a healthy self-esteem.
Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcom X by Ilyasah Shabazz
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Mahogany Books*
Synopsis: Malcolm X grew to be one of America’s most influential figures. But first, he was a boy named Malcolm Little. Written by his daughter, this inspiring picture book biography celebrates a vision of freedom and justice. Bolstered by the love and wisdom of his large, warm family, young Malcolm Little was a natural born leader. But when confronted with intolerance and a series of tragedies, Malcolm’s optimism and faith were threatened. He had to learn how to be strong and how to hold on to his individuality. He had to learn self-reliance.
Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: In this acclaimed book, the author of the Newbery Honor Book To Be a Slave shares his own story as he explores what makes each of us special. A strong choice for sharing at home or in the classroom.
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present.
Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus and sparked a boycott that changed America. Harriet Tubman helped more than three hundred slaves escape the South on the Underground Railroad. Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The lives these women led are part of an incredible story about courage in the face of oppression; about the challenges and triumphs of the battle for civil rights; and about speaking out for what you believe in--even when it feels like no one is listening.
My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis:
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon,
Synopsis: After a day of being taunted by classmates about her unruly hair, Mackenzie can’t take any more and she seeks guidance from her wise and comforting neighbor, Miss Tillie. Using the beautiful garden in the backyard as a metaphor, Miss Tillie shows Mackenzie that maintaining healthy hair is not a chore nor is it something to fear. Most importantly, Mackenzie learns that natural black hair is beautiful.
Blended by Sharon Draper
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: Eleven-year-old Isabella’s parents are divorced, so she has to switch lives every week: One week she’s Isabella with her dad, his girlfriend Anastasia, and her son Darren living in a fancy house where they are one of the only black families in the neighborhood. The next week she’s Izzy with her mom and her boyfriend John-Mark in a small, not-so-fancy house that she loves. It seems like nothing can bring Isabella’s family together again—until the worst thing happens. Isabella and Darren are stopped by the police. A cell phone is mistaken for a gun. And shots are fired.
The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: Clover's mom says it isn't safe to cross the fence that segregates their African-American side of town from the white side where Anna lives. But the two girls strike up a friendship, and get around the grown-ups' rules by sitting on top of the fence together. With the addition of a brand-new author's note, this special edition celebrates the tenth anniversary of this classic book. As always, Woodson moves readers with her lyrical narrative, and E. B. Lewis's amazing talent shines in his gorgeous watercolor illustrations.
Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson, LaToya Council, and Carolyn Choi
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon
Synopsis: The brainchild of three women-of-color sociologists, IntersectionAllies is a smooth, gleeful entry into intersectional feminism. The nine interconnected characters proudly describe themselves and their backgrounds, involving topics that range from a physical disability to language brokering, offering an opportunity to take pride in a personal story and connect to collective struggle for justice.
Fiction & YA
The Native Son by Richard Wright
Where to Find It: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Native Son is a third person narrative that intimately revolves around an African American named Bigger Thomas in the 1930's. He lives in poverty with his family and is a delinquent. To aggravate his poor life even more, Bigger also lives in a racist society where white people despise black people.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Where to Find It: The Sister’s Uptown Bookstore*, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Synopsis: When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galluzzo, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?
Homecoming by Yaa Gyasi
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Cora is a young slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him. In Colson Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.
But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix's desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix's past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other
Dear Martin by Nic Stone (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. Despite leaving his rough neighborhood behind, he can't escape the scorn of his former peers or the ridicule of his new classmates.
Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore? He starts a journal to Dr. King to find out.
Then comes the day Justyce goes driving with his best friend, Manny, windows rolled down, music turned up—way up, sparking the fury of a white off-duty cop beside them. Words fly. Shots are fired. Justyce and Manny are caught in the crosshairs. In the media fallout, it's Justyce who is under attack/
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon,
Synopsis: Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right.
And that's how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva's missing cat), it's clear that there's more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
This Is My America by Kim Johnson
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking the organization to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has only 267 days left. Then the unthinkable happens. The police arrive in the night, and Tracy's older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a "thug" on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. But will Tracy and her family survive the uncovering of the skeletons of their Texas town's racist history that still haunt the present?
Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Candice Iloh weaves the key moments of Ada’s young life—her mother’s descent into addiction, her father’s attempts to create a home for his American daughter more like the one he knew in Nigeria, her first year at a historically black college—into a luminous and inspiring verse novel.
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstores*
Synopsis: Dove "Birdie" Randolph works hard to be the perfect daughter and follow the path her parents have laid out for her: She quit playing her beloved soccer, she keeps her nose buried in textbooks, and she's on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then Birdie falls hard for Booker, a sweet boy with a troubled past . . . whom she knows her parents will never approve of.
When her estranged aunt Carlene returns to Chicago and moves into the family's apartment above their hair salon, Birdie notices the tension building at home. Carlene is sweet, friendly, and open-minded — she's also spent decades in and out of treatment facilities for addiction. As Birdie becomes closer to both Booker and Carlene, she yearns to spread her wings. But when long-buried secrets rise to the surface, everything she's known to be true is turned upside down.
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron (YA Fantasy)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: Heir to two lines of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. Yet she fails at bone magic, fails to call upon her ancestors, and fails to live up to her family’s legacy. Under the disapproving eye of her mother, the Kingdom’s most powerful priestess and seer, she fears she may never be good enough.
But when the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, Arrah is desperate enough to turn to a forbidden, dangerous ritual. If she has no magic of her own, she’ll have to buy it—by trading away years of her own life.
Arrah’s borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal, and on its heels, a rising tide of darkness that threatens to consume her and all those she loves. She must race to unravel a twisted and deadly scheme… before the fight costs more than she can afford.
Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: In this striking new novel by the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly and Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of three Brooklyn teens who plot to turn their murdered friend into a major rap star by pretending he's still alive.
Black Is the Body by Emily Bernard
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: In these twelve deeply personal, connected essays, Bernard details the experience of growing up black in the south with a family name inherited from a white man, surviving a random stabbing at a New Haven coffee shop, marrying a white man from the North and bringing him home to her family, adopting two children from Ethiopia, and living and teaching in a primarily white New England college town. Each of these essays sets out to discover a new way of talking about race and of telling the truth as the author has lived it.
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland (YA Fantasy)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: At once provocative, terrifying, and darkly subversive, Dread Nation is Justina Ireland's stunning vision of an America both foreign and familiar—a country on the brink, at the explosive crossroads where race, humanity, and survival meet.
Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon,
Synopsis: Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. This young adult novel is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in grades 7 to 8, especially during homeschooling. It’s a fun way to keep your child entertained and engaged while not in the classroom.
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: A hilarious YA contemporary realistic novel about a witty Black French Canadian teen who moves to Austin, Texas, and experiences the joys, clichés, and awkward humiliations of the American high school experience—including falling in love. This young adult novel is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in grades 7 to 8.
An American Summer: Love & Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Black Stone Bookstore & Cultural Center*
Synopsis: The numbers are staggering: over the past twenty years in Chicago, 14,033 people have been killed and another roughly 60,000 wounded by gunfire. What does that do to the spirit of individuals and community? Drawing on his decades of experience, Alex Kotlowitz set out to chronicle one summer in the city, writing about individuals who have emerged from the violence and whose stories capture the capacity—and the breaking point—of the human heart and soul. The result is a spellbinding collection of deeply intimate profiles that upend what we think we know about gun violence in America.
Monster: A Graphic Novel by Walter Dean Myers, adapted by Guy A. Sims (YA)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: Monster is a multi-award-winning, provocative coming-of-age story about Steve Harmon, a teenager awaiting trial for a murder and robbery. As Steve acclimates to juvenile detention and goes to trial, he envisions how his ordeal would play out on the big screen.
The Travelers by Regina Porter
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: Meet James Samuel Vincent, an affluent Manhattan attorney who shirks his modest Irish American background but hews to his father’s meandering ways. James muddles through a topsy-turvy relationship with his son, Rufus, which is further complicated when Rufus marries Claudia Christie.
Claudia’s mother—Agnes Miller Christie—is a beautiful African American woman who survives a chance encounter on a Georgia road that propels her into a new life in the Bronx. Soon after, her husband, Eddie Christie, is called to duty on an aircraft carrier in Vietnam, where Tom Stoppard’s play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” becomes Eddie’s life anchor, as he grapples with mounting racial tensions on the ship and counts the days until he will see Agnes again.
These unforgettable characters’ lives intersect with a cast of lovers and friends—the unapologetic black lesbian who finds her groove in 1970s Berlin; a moving man stranded in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during a Thanksgiving storm; two half-brothers who meet as adults in a crayon factory; and a Coney Island waitress whose Prince Charming is too good to be true.
Pride by Ibi Zoboi (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.
When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.
But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.
Copperhead by Alexi Zentner
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Loyalty Bookstore*
Synopsis: Jessup's stepfather gave him almost everything good in his life—a sober mother, a sister, a sense of home, and the game of football. But during the years that David John spent in prison for his part in a brutal hate crime, Jessup came to realize that his stepfather is also a source of lethal poison for his family. Now it's Jessup's senior year, and all he wants to do is lay low until he can accept one of the football scholarships that will be his ticket out of town.
So when his stepfather is released from prison, Jessup is faced with an impossible choice: condemn the man who saved his family or accept his part in his family's legacy of bigotry. Before he can choose a side, Jessup will cause a terrible accident and cover it up—a mistake with the power to ruin them all.
Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds (YA Fiction)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack.
But then Kate dies. And their story should end there.
Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind.
Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do to save the people he loves.
Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books and Crannies*
Synopsis: The year is 1921, and "Nobody" Alice James has just arrived in Oregon with a bullet wound, a lifetime's experience battling the New York Mafia, and fifty thousand dollars in illicit cash. She befriends Max, a black Pullman porter who reminds her achingly of home and who saves Alice by leading her to the Paragon Hotel. But her unlikely sanctuary turns out to be an all-black hotel in a Jim Crow city, and its lodgers seem unduly terrified of a white woman on the premises.
As she meets the churlish Dr. Pendleton, the stately Mavereen, and the club chanteuse Blossom Fontaine, she understands their dread. The Ku Klux Klan has arrived in Portland in fearful numbers—burning crosses, electing officials, infiltrating newspapers, and brutalizing blacks. And only Alice and her new Paragon "family" are searching for a missing mulatto child who has mysteriously vanished into the woods. To untangle the web of lies and misdeeds around her, Alice will have to answer for her own past, too.
We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery*
Synopsis: “You can be beautiful, even more beautiful than before.” This is the seductive promise of Dr. Nzinga’s clinic, where anyone can get their lips thinned, their skin bleached, and their nose narrowed. A complete demelanization will liberate you from the confines of being born in a black body—if you can afford it.
In this near-future Southern city plagued by fenced-in ghettos and police violence, more and more residents are turning to this experimental medical procedure. Like any father, our narrator just wants the best for his son, Nigel, a biracial boy whose black birthmark is getting bigger by the day. The darker Nigel becomes, the more frightened his father feels. But how far will he go to protect his son? And will he destroy his family in the process?
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (YA Fantasy)
Where to Find It: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Mahogany Books*
Synopsis: Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for an enemy.
Documentaries
13th by Filmmaker Ava DuVernay
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: The 13th Amendment of the constitution abolished slavery — except in the case of those convicted of a crime or imprisoned. With a number of historical facts and expert opinions, 13th offers insight into what the black community has faced from law enforcement and the judicial system for the last 155 years.
Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement
Where to Watch: YouTube
Synopsis: An original documentary film that chronicles the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement through the first person accounts of local activists, protesters, scholars, journalists, and others.
America to Me by Director Steve James
Synopsis: Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Steve James examines racial, economic, and class issues in contemporary American education in this multi-part, unscripted documentary series.
I Am Not Your Negro
Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime, iTunes
Synopsis: Director Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. It is a journey into black history that connects the Civil Rights movement to #BlackLivesMatter. It questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.
Strong Island
Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube
Synopsis: The forces of family, grief, and racial injustice converge in this Oscar-nominated documentary exploring the murder of filmmaker Yance Ford’s brother.
16 Shots
Where to Watch: Showtime, Hulu, Sling, Amazon Prime, YouTube
Synopsis: A documentary examining the 2014 shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke and the cover-up that ensued.
Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Paramount
Synopsis: This docuseries re-examines the life and legacy of Trayvon Martin, whose death became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Hulu
Synopsis: This artful and intimate meditation on legendary storyteller Tony Morrison examines her life, her work, and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career.
Uppity: The William T. Ribbs Story
Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube, Google Play
Synopsis: This documentary profiles a defiant driver who challenged racial barriers in American auto racing, becoming the first black man to race in the Indy 500.
Whose Streets?
Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google, Vudu
Synopsis: Told by activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? Is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising and a powerful battle cry from a generation fighting, not for their civil rights, but for their right to live.
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Films for Action
Synopsis: A documentary on the slain leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, killed in 1969 by Chicago police while he slept in his apartment.
Based-On-A-True-Story Films & Shows
When They See Us by Filmmaker Ava DuVernay
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: A limited biopic series about the Central Park Five tells the story of Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise. They were coerced into giving false confessions about their involvement with the 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park.
Antwone Fisher
Where to Watch: Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube
Synopsis: A 2002 biographical drama film directed by and starring Denzel Washington. It is based on the autobiographical book of Antwone Fisher called Finding Fish.
Just Mercy
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu
Synopsis: A powerful true story that follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson and his battle for justice as he defends a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence.
Selma
Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime, iTunes
Synopsis: Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery for the right to vote.
Fruitvale Station
Where to Watch: Tubi, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime, iTunes
Synopsis: Though he once spent time in San Quentin, 22-year-old black man Oscar Grant (Michael B. Jordan) is now trying hard to live a clean life and support his girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) and young daughter (Ariana Neal). Flashbacks reveal the last day in Oscar's life, in which he accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy.
Malcom X
Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon Prime
Synopsis: A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride
Film & TV
Do the Right Thing directed by Spike Lee
Where to Watch: YouTube, Vudu, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon Prime
Synopsis: It is the hottest day of the year on a block in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn; a scorching 24-hour period that will change the lives of its residents forever.
American Son
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: An estranged couple reunite in a Florida police station to help find their missing teenage son.
Dear White People
Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Google Play
Synopsis: Based on the film of the same name, Dear White People follows a group of students of color at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League College.
The Glass Shield
Where to Watch: YouTube, Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play, iTunes
Synopsis: Rookie cop J.J. (Michael Boatman) is the first black officer in his squad. Befriending fellow outsider Deborah (Lori Petty), J.J. has a tough time adjusting to the force's good-old-boy camaraderie. Initially turning a blind eye to hints of racism in order to fit in, J.J. find it harder to ignore the corruption when an illegal search leads to the arrest of Teddy Woods (Ice Cube) on questionable murder charges. As J.J. delves deeper into the case, he risks losing his job—or his life.
If Beale Street Could Talk
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Hulu
Synopsis: In early 1970s Harlem, daughter and wife-to-be Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny. Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together, but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
The Hate U Give
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Hulu, HBO Max
Synopsis: Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds -- the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what's right.
Monsters and Men
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Hulu
Synopsis: A bystander films the death of a black man at the hands of police, which sparks rising tensions in a New York neighborhood as some are moved to take a stand
The Secret Life of Bees
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, Hulu
Synopsis: Haunted by memories of her late mother and abused by her father (Paul Bettany), 14-year-old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) runs away with her friend and caregiver Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) to the South Carolina town that holds the key to her mother's past. There, Lily meets the Boatwright sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo), who take her in and teach her about beekeeping, honey, and the Black Madonna. Lily also discovers that the truth about her mother is closer than she thinks.
Get Out
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, iTunes
Synopsis: Now that Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) and his girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams), have reached the meet-the-parents milestone of dating, she invites him for a weekend getaway upstate with Missy and Dean. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
#blackAF
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: A man takes an irreverent and honest approach to parenting and relationships.
All Day and a Night
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: A young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery after landing in the same prison as his father.
Moonlight
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Netflix
Synopsis: A look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to manhood is guided by the kindness, support and love of the community that helps raise him.
Comedy
Chris Rock: Tambourine
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: Chris Rock: Tamborine is a stand-up comedy special that premiered on Netflix on February 14, 2018, starring comedian Chris Rock. It is the sixth special for Rock and first one for Netflix. It is also Rock's first stand-up special in ten years.
Michael Che Matters
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: "SNL" star Michael Che takes on hot-button topics like inequality, homophobia and gentrification in this stand-up set filmed live in Brooklyn.
Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia
Where to Watch: Netflix
Synopsis: "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah touches on tacos, runaway snakes, camping, racism immunity and lessons he learned from his mother in this comedy special.
Podcasts
Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay
Where to Listen: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher
Themes: Current Events, Black Culture, Politics, Sports
Synopsis: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay dissect the biggest topics in black culture, politics, and sports. Two times per week, they will wade into the most important and timely conversations, frequently inviting guests on the podcast and occasionally debating each other.
1619, a New York Times Audio Series
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio Podcasts, PodChaser
Themes: History, American History, Slavery
Synopsis: In August of 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in the English colony of Virginia. America was not yet America, but this was the moment it began. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the 250 years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is time to tell the story.
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher
Themes: Race
Synopsis: Featuring key voices from the last few decades of anti-racist activism, About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge looks at the recent history that lead to the politics of today.
QueerWOC: The Podcast
Where to Listen: Soundcloud
Themes: Women of Color & Pride Month
Synopsis: Join Money and Nikeeta, two Black Queer Troublemakers, on this biweekly insurgent audio syllabus that unites, ignites, and excites the queer women of color community. QueerWOC is a space for queer women and folks of color rooted in reimagining healing, organizing, and community.
Lynching in America
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Podbean, Soundcloud
Themes: Government, Racial Terror
Synopsis: Equal Justice Initiative has documented the lynchings of over 4,000 African Americans between 1877 and 1950. In this series, hear how this era of racial terror lynchings continues to shape America to this day.
Black Wall Street 1921
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher
Themes: American History, Racial Violence
Synopsis: A podcast chronicling significant and related events before, during and after "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history." The Tulsa Race Massacre.
Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud
Themes: Society & Culture
Synopsis: Emmy Award—winning producer, actor, and comedian Larry Wilmore is back on the air, hosting a podcast where he weighs in on the issues of the week and interviews guests in the worlds of politics, entertainment, culture, sports, and beyond.
Code Switch by NPR
Where to Listen: NPR, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher
Themes: Race, Society, News
Synopsis: What's CODE SWITCH? It's the fearless conversations about race that you've been waiting for! Hosted by journalists of color, our podcast tackles the subject of race head-on. We explore how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and everything in between. This podcast makes ALL OF US part of the conversation — because we're all part of the story.
The Weeds
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts
Themes: Politics, Racism, Policing
Synopsis: [Episode: After George Floyd] Jane, Dara, and Matt on America's dual reckonings with racism and police impunity
Intersectionality Matters!
Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Podbean
Themes: American Civil Rights
Synopsis: Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory.
The Heart
Where to Listen: TheHeartRadio.Org
Themes: Race & LGBTQ
Synopsis: “Race Traitor”: Even after you’ve intellectually rejected white supremacy, how does it show up in a room? In a relationship? How do we divert intergenerational white power hoarding that is so normalized it’s nearly invisible? Phoebe’s been white her entire life. But she only realized a few years ago that she inherited a white value system.
Today, Explained by Vox
Where to Listen: Vox, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts
Themes: Current Events
Synopsis: Today, Explained is Vox's daily explainer podcast. Host Sean Rameswaram will guide you through the most important stories at the end of each day. Recent episodes address racial injustice and LGBTQIA rights.
AfroQueer
Where to Listen: AfroQueerPodcast.com
Synopsis: A podcast about queer Africans living, loving, surviving, and thriving on the African continent and in the diaspora.
Do you have resources you'd like to suggest?
We're actively gathering resources from key authors and creators whose thought leadership promotes deeper learning. If you'd like to suggest educational content on topic with anti-racism, please share with us in the form below. This living library will be updated weekly.
