WSA Equity Resource Library
Anne Arundel Watershed Stewards Academy is committed to incorporating diversity, equity, inclusion and justice (DEIJ) into the DNA of our organization.
When it comes to learning more about DEIJ, knowing where to begin can be a daunting task. That is why we worked with the consulting firm JIJ Impact to develop an Equity Resource Library designed to provide content and material that can deepen your understanding of equity and how it can show up in your everyday life.
We will continue to update this library with additional content, so check back regularly to see what's new.
Racial Equity Resources
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Nonfiction)
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race, and about how racism infects every aspect of American life.
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee (Nonfiction)
One of today’s most insightful and influential thinkers offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Fiction)
Invisible Man is the story of a young, college-educated black man struggling to survive and succeed in a racially divided society that refuses to see him as a human being.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fiction)
Americanah is a powerful novel that explores racial identity, immigration, and the African diaspora through a uniquely feminist lens.
13th (Documentary)
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans.
Driving While Black: Race, Space and Mobility in America (Documentary)
Discover how the advent of the automobile brought new mobility and freedom for African Americans but also exposed them to discrimination and deadly violence, and how that history resonates today.
Code Switch (Podcast)
Hosted by journalists of color, NPR’s Code Switch podcast tackles the subject of race with empathy and humor. They explore how race affects every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, food and everything in between.
Gender Equity Resources
Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez (Nonfiction)
Celebrated feminist advocate Caroline Criado Perez investigates the shocking root cause of gender inequality and research in Invisible Women, diving into women’s lives at home, the workplace, the public square, the doctor’s office, and more. Built on hundreds of studies in the US, the UK, and around the world, and written with energy, wit, and sparkling intelligence, this is a groundbreaking, unforgettable exposé that will change the way you look at the world.
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (Nonfiction)
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Fiction)
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
A profoundly moving story about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
Hidden Figures (Film)
Hidden Figures is the incredible untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson —brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit.
Check availability at Anne Arundel County Libraries
Miss Representation (Documentary)
Miss Representation exposes how mainstream media’s limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls makes it difficult for women to feel powerful and achieve leadership positions.
I May Destroy You (TV)
This fearless, frank and provocative half-hour series centers on Arabella, a carefree, self-assured Londoner with a group of great friends, a boyfriend in Italy, and a burgeoning writing career. But when her drink is spiked, she must question and rebuild every element of her life.
Hear to Slay (Podcast)
Roxane Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom host Hear to Slay, a black feminist perspective on celebrity, culture, politics, art, life, love—all the things they're obsessed with—and more. This is the black feminist podcast of your dreams—compelling conversations curated in only the way black women can.
LGBTQ+ Equity Resources
No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell L. Moore (Nonfiction)
In No Ashes in the Fire, Darnell Moore writes a deeply personal memoir of growing up in the cross hairs of racism and homophobia in Camden, N.J., in the 1980s and ’90s.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (Fiction)
James Baldwin’s 1956 novel is a layered exploration of queer desire — and of the writer’s own sense of self. This now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a deeply moving story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.
Moonlight (Film)
A look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami as he grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.
Paris is Burning (Documentary)
This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City’s African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Paris Is Burning offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion “houses,” from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty.
Pride (Docuseries)
Directed by seven renowned queer filmmakers, Pride is a six-episode limited series that shines a spotlight on some of the most celebrated LGBTQ milestones and trailblazers, along with lesser-known pivotal moments and activists going back to the 1950s.
Steven Universe (TV)
This exceptional, exceptionally LGBTQ-friendly Cartoon Network kids’ fantasy series follows adolescent Steven as he learns to save the world. Along the way, the all-female Crystal Gems' navigate queer platonic and romantic relationships while Steven grows comfortable with exploring his own gender expression.
LGBTQ&A (Podcast)
Hosted by thoughtful, humble, and inquisitive journalist Jeffrey Masters, the LGBTQ&A podcast features bite-sized convos with the most interesting LGBTQ+ people in the world.
Environmental Equity Resources
Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States by Carl Zimring (Nonfiction)
Clean and White offers a history of environmental racism in the United States focusing on constructions of race and hygiene. This book tells the history of the corrosive idea that whites are clean and those who are not white are dirty.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Nonfiction)
Indigenous botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer highlights the role of Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to more mainstream scientific methodologies.
The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara (Fiction)
Set in a fictional city in the American South, a community of Black faith healers witness an event that will change their lives in a novel that comments boldly on environmental racism and ecological disaster.
So Far From God by Ana Castillo (Fiction)
This novel follows the lives of Sofi and her four daughters in a small town in New Mexico. Rife with mystery, tradition, and magical realism, So Far From God also tackles the dual impacts of environmental racism and classism.
They're Trying to Kill Us (Documentary)
Pop icon Billie Eilish and fitness influencer and “Bad Ass Vegan” John Lewis team up for a documentary exploring the cause and effects of environmental racism and food disparities in Black communities across the US.
There’s Something in the Water (Documentary)
This 2019 documentary spotlights the struggle of Black and Indigenous communities in Nova Scotia as they fight officials over the lethal effects of industrial waste.
Short Reads and Digital Content
“Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.” by Nikole Hannah-Jones (Essay)
In the opening essay of the 1619 Project, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones argues that the United States was not a democracy until the civil rights struggles of Black Americans made it so.
“The Case For Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Essay)
In a 2014 essay published in the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates makes a powerful argument that African Americans are owed compensation for their treatment in the United States.
A Conversation on Race (Short Film Series)
This New York Times series includes eight short films featuring everyday people as they discuss issues of race and identity in America.
“The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House” by Audre Lorde (Essay)
In this short but powerful essay, Audre Lorde tackles the forces of racism, patriarchal power structures and systems of oppression.
Our Funding Partners
This resource was made possible by funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, the Chesapeake Bay Program, Chesapeake Bay Funders Network, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and had been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement 96358101 and 96358201 to National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the EPA endore trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.
