Explore Whiteness and White Privilege

Racial tensions in American history and culture are based on constructions of blackness and whiteness. These resources will help unpack ideas of whiteness and the corresponding privileges associated with it.

Listen:

• • Scene On Radio- Seeing White

    • This in-depth podcast traces the historical constructions of whiteness and how this categorization has impacted the identities and ideologies of white people.

  • Nice White Parents

    • This podcast investigates racial segregation in contemporary American schools and ties these trends to the interventions of well-meaning white parents.

Read:

• • • Peggy McIntosh: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege

      • This article is key to understanding the privileges of whiteness that often go unnoticed by white people.

    • Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White Edited by David Roedigger

      • For an in-depth look at some of the key theories shaping conceptions of whiteness in America, take a look at this essay collection from legendary Black authors, poets, scholars, and artists.

    • Audre Lorde: Open Letter to Mary Daly

      • Lorde's honest indictment of so-called white "allies" adds complexity to American social movements encouraging intersectional coalitions.

    • Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Ibram X. Kehinde

      • Kehinde's text walks readers through the construction and maintenance of race in America.

Look:

• • Glenn Ligon

    • Ligons' work helps us visualize whiteness and its effects on Black people's psyches.