Books

This is a list of recommended books to read for a better understanding of racism. Visit the Morse High School Library Catalog for more titles to expand your knowledge. E-mail your book requests, and we will make arrangements for check-out and provide a pick-up time.

America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Examines four different elements of the African American experience as well as the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, in a collection of essays based on interviews with Colin Powell, Morgan Freeman, Vernon Jordan, and others.

Genre: History

Call Number: 305.896 GAT


Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Told through Coates' own evolving understanding of racism over the course of his life comes a bold and personal investigation into America's racial history and its contemporary echoes. 2015 National Book Award.

Genre: Memoir

Call Number: 305.8 COA


Black Lives Matter

Sue Bradford Edwards and Duchess Harris

Discusses the Black Lives Matter organization, describing the events that led to the group's creation, their impact on society, and their hopes for the future.

Genre: Social Issues

Call Number: 305.89 EDW


Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor's Reflections on Race and Medicine

Damon Tweedy, M.D.

A doctor's passionate and profound memoir of his experience grappling with race, bias, and the unique health problems of black Americans.

Genre: Memoir

Call Number: 610.92 TWE


Citizen: An American Lyric

Claudia Rankine

A collection of prose, poetry and images that provides a provocative analysis of race in America, with a deep commitment to advancing equality.

Genre: Poetry; Multi-Genre Prose

Call Number: 814.6 RAN


Collected Essays of James Baldwin

James Baldwin

A collection of non-fiction writings by African-American author James Baldwin, including the autobiographical "Notes of a Native Son"; his 1963 analysis of America's racial divide, "The Fire Next Time"; and over thirty other essays.

Genre: Essays

Call Number: 814 BAL


Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Barack Obama

The son of an African father and white American mother discusses his childhood in Hawaii, his struggle to find his identity as an African American, and his life accomplishments.

Genre: Memoir

Call Number:


How to Be an Antiracist

Ibram X. Kendi

From the National Book Award–winning author comes a bracingly original approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society—and in ourselves. Ibram X. Kendi’s concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America—but even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other.

Genre: Memoir; Personal Essay

Call Number: 305.8009 KEN

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

Bryan Stevenson

The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recounts his experiences as a lawyer working to assist those desperately in need and reflects on his pursuit of the ideal of compassion in American justice.

Genre: Memoir; Books to Movies; Society and Culture

Call Number: 353.4 STE

Just Mercy: Adapted for Young Adults: A True Story of the Fight for Justice

Bryan Stevenson

The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recounts his experiences as a lawyer working to assist those desperately in need and reflects on his pursuit of the ideal of compassion in American justice.

Genre: Memoir; Books to Movies; Society and Culture

Call Number: 353.092 STE

No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

Darnell L. Moore

The editor-at-large of CASSIUS and original Black Lives Matter organizer describes his own direct experiences with prejudice, violence and repression and his participation in key civil movements where he found his calling as an advocate on behalf of society's marginalized people.

Genre: Memoir

Call Number: 306.766 MOR

One Person, No Vote: How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally

Carol Anderson

Carol Anderson chronicles the rollbacks to African American participation in the vote since the 2013 Supreme Court decision that eviscerated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Young adult version of One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy)

Genre: Politics

Call Number: 324.62 AND

One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

Carol Anderson

A chronicle of voter suppression exposes America's history of policies that have blocked African American voting participation, placing particular focus on the Supreme Court's 2013 Shelby ruling.

Genre: Politics

Call Number: 324.6208 AND

So You Want to Talk About Race

Ijeoma Oluo

A Seattle-based writer, editor and speaker tackles the racial landscape in current America, discussing the issues of privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the "N" word.

Genre: Social Issues

Call Number: 305.8 OLU

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi

A comprehensive history of anti-black racism focuses on the lives of five major players in American history, including Cotton Mather and Thomas Jefferson, and highlights the debates that took place between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. 2016 National Book Award.

Genre: Social Issues

Call Number: 305.8 KEN

Stamped: Racism, Anitracism, and You

Ibram X. Kendi

A history of racist and antiracist ideas in America, from their roots in Europe until today, adapted from the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.

Genre: Social Issues

Call Number: 305.8 KEN

Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America

Michael Eric Dyson

A call for change in the United States argues that racial progress can only be achieved after facing difficult truths, including being honest about how black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, and discounted.

Genre: Society and Culture

Call Number: 305.8 DYS

We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide

Carol Anderson

From the end of the Civil War to the tumultuous issues in America today, an acclaimed historian reframes the conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America.

Genre:

Call Number: 323.1196 AND


What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy and James Baldwin and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America

Michael Eric Dyson

Examines the sources of America's racial politics, tracing the 1963 meeting that included James Baldwin, Robert Kennedy, and a host of expert activists, who transformed racial and political understandings and set the stage for national disputes that are still raging today.

Genre:

Call Number: 305.8009 DYS

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele

A memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement explains the movement's position of love, humanity, and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes.

Genre:

Call Number: 323.092 KHA


White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

Robin J. DiAngelo

Groundbreaking book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when discussing racism that serve to protect their positions and maintain racial inequality.

Genre:

Call Number: 305.8 DIA