The Anti-Racist Bookshelf

This past week, I've been thinking a lot of what I can do to contribute to not only this current moment, but also to combat racism and anti-Black violence in my daily life. It's such a crucial and significant topic that I want to make sure I'm doing the most I can, while not overstepping any boundaries when it comes to performative activism/insufficient allyship. 

One thing I've seen circulating a lot is lists of books to read to educate ourselves on racism and its pervasive effects in our country and our world. I still truly believe that literature and stories can be one of the greatest catalysts for change, where we take a moment to really understand someone else. For me personally, literature was fundamental in my understanding of racism/police brutality/inequity in our society, and I want to do what I can so others can learn from these incredible books too. 

So without further ado, books for an anti-racist bookshelf.

My Personal Recs:

Because I naturally gravitate towards fiction, you'll find most of these are fiction. But I think there's nothing like fiction that conquers difference and instead emphasizes humanity. 

The Essentials

 Native Son by Richard Wright was the first book I read around the issue of race that blew my mind. Its way of conveying how white American society has caged the Black community to only be able to find a sense of freedom in violence was very subtle but extremely powerful. The plot itself was really gripping but the last bit of the book and its statements about race are Unbelievable.

People have mixed feelings though... including James Baldwin! Read about it here.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This one can speak for itself.

“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, the more I love.” 

Beloved by Toni Morrison is perhaps the most unapologetic, truthful, stunning work I have read, period. Morrison's depiction of slavery, motherhood, and trauma made me connect with Sethe as a character in completely new, personal ways. Gender and race intersect in this novel in a way that is so natural and real yet heartbreaking. The personal is the political, and I don't know if anyone understands that as well as Morrison does. 

If you read one book on this list, let it be The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. I don't think anyone can write more eloquently and sensitively about life and race and everything in between than Baldwin, and this book of two of his essays will change the way you understand race. At the very least, he will put into words what you have witnessed and felt for a very long time. 

Other Favorites

A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley is an incredible short-story collection centered around various Black men. His writing is so careful but poignant, and he subtly complicates and subverts the toxic mainstream stereotype of Black masculinity. I had the privilege to be taught by him, and Jamel is truly a master of his kind. 

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo won the Man Booker Prize in 2019. Almost in direct contrast with A Lucky Man, this book explores Black British femininity through multiple characters that stayed with me a long time after reading. Although it is set in Britain and explores racial dynamics slightly different to that of America (with its history of slavery), it still explores the intersections of identity with the detail and care necessary to bring these characters to life. 

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was the first play by an African-American woman to be performed on Broadway. I've never gotten to watch it, but just reading the play itself is so life-giving. Hansberry somehow captures the warmth and love of family and the tragedy and frustration of poverty and discrimination in such a compelling story and amazing dialogue. 

I believe that anti-racism and feminism are inextricable. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay not only explores the different pressures of modern feminism, but also includes wonderful insight about our ideas of privilege and activism.

Some others I read and enjoyed but didn't quite make the ultimate list were The Turner House by Angela Flournoy, Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, Sula by Toni Morrison, Black Boy by Richard Wright, and The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead!!

What I'm Reading Next/Others' Recs:

I still have a lot I need to learn and a lot I want to read. Though I can't personally say my opinions on these, I've heard so many great things I also wanted to include them somehow: 

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis

Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward*

*Will update as I think of more!! Obviously a never-ending list...

I hope this gave you some idea of books to read/start with in confronting racism in our current world. The protests & demonstrations are necessary; literature & stories are necessary in a different but equally impactful way. The main idea with this bookshelf is to keep it never-ending, to be conscious of how we read. Even if you need some structure to begin (like a definite book list or reserving Black History Month for only reading Black literature) the goal is to honor these incredible writers and ideas everyday. To become the change, we can read the change. :)