Black Lives Matter
Library, Teaching, Activism, and Community Resource List
Library, Teaching, Activism, and Community Resource List
Interview with the Founders of Black Lives Matter (TED Talks, 2016. 16 min.)
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta. From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Haymarket Books, 2016.
Opportunities for White People in the Fight for Racial Justice
Anti-Racism Resources for White People (Google Doc)
Shutack, Corrine. “75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice.” Medium, 13 August, 2017.
Talking about Race (National Museum of African American History and Culture)
Juneteenth Syllabus (by Jasmin C. Howard and Kenja McCray)
Syllabus for White People to Educate Themselves (.PDF of Google doc from 2016)
White Supremacy in the Age of Trump Syllabus (Loretta J. Ross, Smith College)
Black Lives Matter Nashville: Bibliography for the Revolution
Black Lives Matter Reading List (Left Bank Books)
Black Lives Matter Reading List (BookRiot)
Black Lives Matter Reading List (Institute of the Black World)
Black Lives Matter Reading List for Adults (Skokie Public Library)
Black Lives Matter Reading List for Adults (Hennepin County Library)
Black Lives Matter Longform Reading List (Autostraddle)
Black Lives Matter Resource Series (Oakland Public Library)
Black Lives Matter International Reading List (Columbia University Libraries)
How Black Lives Have Always Mattered: A Reading List (NPR)
Black Joy Experience Resource Guide (BYP 100)
Black Liberation Reading List (Schomburg Center, New York Public Library)
Black Lives Matter Comics Reading Lists (all ages; BCALA and GNCRT)
The Black Radical Tradition: compilation of writings about black radical and revolutionary movements in the US in the 20th century
BIPOC LGBTQ Resource List (compiled by Jen Brown, We Here community manager, June 2020)
Canadian Black Lives Matter Reading Guide (Hamilton Public Library)
Zora Canon: 100 Books by Black Women Authors
16 Books about Race Every White Person Should Read (Huffington Post)
Reading Race: Best Non-fiction of 2015 (Seattle Public Library)
Anne Braden 2015 Anti-Racist Organizing Training Program Reading List
“A Time for Treason” Reading List (The New Inquiry)
Curriculum for White Americans To Educate Themselves on Race and Racism–From Ferguson To Charleston
Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages (Augusta Baker Chair, University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science)
Anti-Racist Reading List from Ibram X. Kendi (Chicago Public Library)
Police and Prison Abolition 101: A Syllabus and FAQ (Autostraddle)
Book and Film Lists (Racial Equity Tools)
Resources to Understand Racism in America (Smithsonian)
Black Lives Matter Reference Guide (compiled by Malcolm Teller, July 2016)
Black Lives Matter Reading List for Children and Families (Skokie Public Library)
Black Lives Matter Reading List for Young Adults (Skokie Public Library)
We Read Too: iOS mobile app directory of children’s and YA fiction written by and featuring people of color.
The Conscious Kid: Diverse reading lists and subscriptions
Children’s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism, and Resistance
Online Resources for Families Regarding Racial Injustice (Children’s Museum of the Arts)
Teaching With the News: Black Lives Matter, Continuing the Civil Rights Movement
Talking to Kids about Racism and Justice (Oakland Public Library)
Teaching Young Children about Bias, Diversity, and Social Justice
BLM Resources for Educators (D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice)
Teaching Resources on African American People’s History (Zinn Education Project)
African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey (Newtonville and Atlantic City, NJ)
African American History Digital Collections (Library of Congress)
African American Library at the Gregory School Digital Archive (Houston Public Library, Texas)
African American Research Library & Cultural Center (Broward County Library, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida)
Amistad Research Center (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Appalachian African American Cultural Center (Pennington Gap, Virginia)
Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History (Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System)
Black Archives, History, and Research Foundation of South Florida (Miami, Florida)
Black Heritage Reference Center (Queens Public Library, New York)
Black History Month Library Online Resource Collection (curated by Charles Preston)
Black Lives Matter web archive (Archive-It.org)
Black Lives Matter digital collection (Internet Archive)
Black Lives Matter collection (Princeton University)
Black Lives Matter, Policing, and Protest Guide Zines (Sherwood Forest Virtual Zine Library)
Black Panther Party Museum (Oakland, California)
Blackpast.org Online Reference Collection of African American History
Black Women Oral History Project Interviews (Schlesinger Library, Harvard Radcliffe Institute)
California African American Museum (Los Angeles, California)
Center for Civil and Human Rights (Atlanta, Georgia)
Civil Rights Museum (Memphis, Tennessee)
Colored Conventions: Bringing 19th century Black Organizing to Digital Life
Documenting Ferguson (Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri)
DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, Illinois)
Historical African American Newspapers Online (Marist College libguide)
International African American Museum (Charleston, S.C.)
Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, Alabama)
Library at the A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center (Kingston, N.Y.)
Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park (Atlanta, Georgia)
Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Musée des Civilisations Noires/Museum of Black Civilizations (Dakar, Senegal)
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Archive Project
Race Relations in Minnesota Resource Guide (Minnesota Historical Society)
Race and Policing Research Collection (IssueLab)
River Road African American Museum (Donaldsonville, Louisiana)
Save the Boards (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sounds of Black Lives Matter: music and video collection
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Digital Gateway
Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection (Chicago Public Library)
African American Studies Librarians Interest Group (Association of College and Research Libraries)
Anastasi, Katy. "Abolitionist De-Escalation and the Library." Virtual poster session, 2020.
Archivists and Archives of Color Section (Society of American Archivists)
Are You A Librarian?: The Untold Story of Black Librarians. Documentary by Rodney Freeman
Balzer, Cass. “Rethinking Police Presence.” American Libraries Magazine, July 8, 2020.
Black Archival Practice 1 (The Black Scholar 52.2, Summer 2022)
Black Archival Practice 2 (The Black Scholar 52.4, Winter 2022)
Black Excellence LIS Syllabus (crowdsourced list, by T-Kay)
Black Lives Matter: Building Empathy through Reading (YALSA - in 2 parts)
Black Lives Matter/Anti-Racism Efforts (Ivy Plus Libraries Research, Teaching, and Learning Affinity Group)
Black Lives Matter Resource List (Progressive Librarians Guild)
Blackivists: Collective of Black Archivists
"A Call for Ivy+ Libraries to Divest from Police and Prisons and Invest in Life-Giving Resources." October 28, 2020.
Clark, I. J. “Public libraries, police and the normalisation of surveillance.” Infoism, 24 August, 2016.
Collins, Stacy (interviewee). “How Libraries are Supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement.” NPR, June 13, 2020.
Community-based Approaches to Archives from the Black Lives Matter Movement
Dapier, Jarrett, and Knox, Emily. “When Not to Call the Cops: A Plea to Protect Black Patrons.” American Libraries Magazine, July 8, 2020.
Disrupting Whiteness in Libraries and Librarianship (University of Wisconsin)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ALA Advocacy)
Drake, Jarrett M. “#ArchivesForBlackLives: Building a Community Archives of Police Violence in Cleveland.” medium.com, 22 April, 2016.
Drake, Jarrett M. “Expanding #ArchivesForBlackLives to Traditional Archival Repositories.” medium.com, 27 June, 2016.
Green Book for Libraries: A Guide to Working Conditions of Libraries For Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
Hathcock, April. “White Librarianship in Blackface: Diversity Initiatives in LIS.” In the Library with the Lead Pipe, 7 October 2015.
Hear Diversity: diverse audiobook resources
Inclusive Library: More than a Diverse Collection (YALSA - in 2 parts)
Libraries Respond: Black Lives Matter (American Library Association)
Libraries Respond to Recent Crises (American Libraries Magazine)
Library Freedom Project Statement on Library Divestment from Police
Macias, Max. “Three Anti-Racist Actions You Can Take In Your Library, Right Now.” Lowrider Librarian, July 24, 2020.
Project Ready: Reimagining Equity and Access for Diverse Youth
Reading While White: Allies for Racial Diversity and Inclusion in Books for Children and Teens
Robinson, Nathan. “No Holds Barred: Policing and Security in the Public Library.” In the Library with the Lead Pipe, 11 December, 2019.
Michele R. Santamaria. “Concealing White Supremacy Through Fantasies of the Library.” Library Trends, v.68, no.3 (Winter 2020). (via Project MUSE)
Statements from Libraries and Library Organizations on Racism, Black Lives Matter, and Increased Violence (Infodocket, June 1, 2020)
Up//Root: a publishing collective that exists to center the works, knowledge, and experiences of BIPOC within the context of the library and archive community.
We Build Black: Communities for Black Technologists
We Here: Community for BIPOC Library and Archive Workers
Partial Map of Black-led liberation organizing
Black Visions Collective (Minnesota)
Disrupting Whiteness (Stanford University)
#8toAbolition (Archived site)
Crowdsourced Map of Black-Owned Bookstores (Subway Book Review)
National Association of Black Bookstores (NAB2)
Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores (2025)
Black Garnet Books (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Books and Crannies (Martinsville, Virginia)
Cafe con Libros (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Eso Won Books (Los Angeles, California)
The Garden Abolitionist Bookstore (Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.)
Hakim’s Bookstore (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Harriet’s Bookshop (Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Lit. Bar (The Bronx, New York, N.Y.)
Mahogany Books (Washington D.C.)
Marcus Books (Oakland, California)
Revolution Books (New York, N.Y.)
Semicolon Bookstore (Chicago, Illinois)
Sister’s Uptown Bookstore and Cultural Center (New York, N.Y.)
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books (Philadelphia)
1804 Books (New York, N.Y.)
1619 Podcast
Five Digital Self-Care Practices Black People Can Use while Coping with Trauma
Helping Children Deal with Shootings and Other Bad News (DC Public Library)
Helping Kids Cope With Media Coverage of War and Traumatic Events
How Women of Color are Practicing Self Care in A Trump World
What to do instead of calling the police: Syllabus/guide
Alternatives to Calling the Police (It’s Going Down)
12 Things to Do Instead of Calling the Cops (May Day Collective)
“When Not to Call the Cops” (BCALA Webinar, March 18, 2021)
Cop Free Library (Twitter account)
Libraries, Prisons, and Abolition (Liv Graham, 2020)
ACLU Know Your Rights/Conozca sus derechos Wallet Cards (for purchase)
National Lawyers Guild Know Your Rights Guides (multilingual)
Anti-Violence Project Safety Tips for Police Violence and Hate Violence
Directory of Community Bail Funds (National Bail Fund Network)
Raheem: Chatbot for Tracking and Rating Police Interactions
People’s Database for Community-based Police Accountability (Berkeley Copwatch + WITNESS)
Henry A. Wallace Police Crime Database (Bowling Green State University
Digital Security Tips for Protestors (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Image Scrubber App: To anonymize photographs taken at protests
False, Misleading, Click-baity, and/or Satirical “News” Sources
MediaMatters: issues pages
Sociological Images: Police, Black Americans, and U.S. Society
Crash Override: Online Abuse Crisis Helpline
“We’re His Problem Now”: Calling Scripts for Contacting Elected Officials
Register and Vote in Your State (U.S. Election Assistance Commission)
U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services
U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency
Small Business Association 8(a) Business Development Program
Directory of 8(a) Federally certified Minority/Women-owned businesses
Find a library near you (USA.gov directory)
Find items in libraries near you (Worldcat.org)
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Update History: A brief selection of resources was originally published as a post on queeryparty.tumblr.com on July 8, 2016, with several updates over the next few days. On July 11, 2016, that list had grown substantially and was transitioned to a Google Doc which was maintained by Que(e)ry until June 27, 2025. Que(e)ry's Google Doc was then converted into this page on July 8, 2025, for easier ongoing maintenance.