An Anti-Racist Reading List: 20 Highly Rated Nonfiction Books by Black Authors

Great list, Goodreads! Thanks.

I read "Overground Railroad" and really loved it! She does an incredible job weaving in historic information and personal narratives of Black travel in America.

Adriana wrote: "I read "Overground Railroad" and really loved it! She does an incredible job weaving in historic information and personal narratives of Black travel in America."

Want to read that one!

Great list, I already own a copy of How To Be An Anti-Racist, and will look into the others on Libby.

This issue is incredibly important. Black Lives Matter.

And those that think otherwise can take themselves out with the trash.

Lauren Francis-Sharma, the daughter of Trinidadian immigrants, has a terrific new novel called Book of the Little Axe about one woman's journey from the Caribbean to the Northwest United States around 1800. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Peter wrote: "Lauren Francis-Sharma, the daughter of Trinidadian immigrants, has a terrific new novel called Book of the Little Axe about one woman's journey from the Caribbean to the Northwest United States aro..."

Sounds incredible! Thanks for the recommendation!

I put together a list of books entitled Intersectional Books that has 100 books about racism and its intersection with other forms of oppression. If you'd like more title, please check out my list.

Why nothing by Tom Sowell? Clarence Thomas? Walter Williams? Jason Riley? Booker T Washington? Frederick Douglas?

Larry wrote: "Why nothing by Tom Sowell? Clarence Thomas? Walter Williams? Jason Riley? Booker T Washington? Frederick Douglas?"
Yes I’d love to see books by Clarence Thomas, Booker T Washington, Frederick Douglass and Dr Ben Carson!

Sarah wrote: "ClaraBelle wrote: "Larry wrote: "Why nothing by Tom Sowell? Clarence Thomas? Walter Williams? Jason Riley? Booker T Washington? Frederick Douglas?"
Yes I’d love to see books by Clarence Thomas, Boo..."
Same! That’s why I like him, plus he’s a Christian and scientific pioneer!

Sarah wrote: "ClaraBelle wrote: "Sarah wrote: "ClaraBelle wrote: "Larry wrote: "Why nothing by Tom Sowell? Clarence Thomas? Walter Williams? Jason Riley? Booker T Washington? Frederick Douglas?"
Yes I’d love to ..."

Yes he is but he has the right values, just not the best theology

I definitely recommend "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson.

Cheryl wrote: "I definitely recommend "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson."

Yes can’t wait to read it! Also I’d recommend Same Kind of Different As Me book and movie!

Are there no non-racist books written by Asian people?

Joe wrote: "Are there no non-racist books written by Asian people?"
I wondered that too…

Ryan wrote: "Joe wrote: "Are there no non-racist books written by Asian people?"

I'd imagine there are. Though I personally don't know of any I'm afraid."

I’d imagine they are some too. But I personally don’t know of any nor have I read any, but I’d love to!

Sarah wrote: "ClaraBelle wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Joe wrote: "Are there no non-racist books written by Asian people?"

I'd imagine there are. Though I personally don't know of any I'm afraid."

I’d imagine they are ..."
Oh could you tell us please? I’m so interested and onboard with them……

Reading Carolina Matos de Jesus right now, the first book of her diaries about daily life in the favelas. Another strong important Black Brazilian woman writer is Conceição Evaristo, her chronics are incredible. Maya Angelou and Chimamanda Adichie are also names that need to be in this list.

#BlackLivesMatter

Miryamu wrote: "Anybody could recommend where to start among those books? I've got a tight budget, so I have to pick one or two, but they all seem interesting..."

I'd recommend looking them up on Overdrive or the Emergency Internet Archive as that is still active for a free version!

kittykat wrote: "#BlackLivesMatter"

Right on.

I have Barracoon in my bedside stack of books to read and plan to get to, but I heard a long interview with the author of a recent book which seems very interesting too. She's mixed race; her parents had to secretly move to NY to marry in the 1940s. She went to Howard, and later to Harvard. Title is Say I'm Dead, which was her mother's demand when she wants to contact her mother's relatives (white Indianans). She was raised in the Black community; came to want to define herself as multiracial. I think she has an intriguing perspective on race in America. On my list.

Miryamu wrote: "Anybody could recommend where to start among those books? I've got a tight budget, so I have to pick one or two, but they all seem interesting..."

So You Want To Talk About Race is very good, especially as a starting point. It's very clearly written and conveys a lot of core ideas about white privilege and systemic racism that I think would make the other books easier to understand.

A couple of excellent books are The Wretched of the Earth, primarily about decolonisation, and Are Prisons Obsolete?, primarily about prison abolition. If you are interested in more radical anti-racist texts, these two are great starts.

Although the author's British and not American, this book is astonishing and one of my absolute favourites...
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire

Max wrote: "Although the author's British and not American, this book is astonishing and one of my absolute favourites...
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire"

Sounds so good!

Night wrote: "Even though she is British and not American, I really liked Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It is very instructive, and in..."

that title made me laugh 🤣

I also suggest "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison; "The Color of Water" by James McBride,
and "Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone" by James Baldwin

Other suggestions:
"Anatomy of a Lynching" by James R. McGovern
"Fredrick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom" by David Blight

ClaraBelle wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Joe wrote: "Are there no non-racist books written by Asian people?"

I'd imagine there are. Though I personally don't know of any I'm afraid."

I’d imagine they are some too. But I per..."

While not specifically about racism, you might try books written by the Japanese-Americans who were put in internment camps during WWII (some of whom went on to fight for the US quite heroically).

Mike Wallace: “How are we going to get rid of racism.”

Morgan Freeman: “Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.

#BlackLivesMatter and for those of you that still don't get it, it's actually really fucking simple. And TBH, as you are all supposed to be readers, I'm surprised that you don't have the capacity to understand the concept. OR do we have non-readers here who are jumping in to play devil's advocate for funsies? Or actual racists who simply DON'T CARE?

All lives will not matter until that actually includes all lives unconditionally to EVERYONE. And racism, anti-black racism in particular, is not just a disease (that we are injected with continually from birth) in the USA only... which BTW is NOT the centre of the universe.

And to repeat what I said in my first post on this thread

don't anyone waste your time coming at me in any way for my opinion and especially not for swearing (which is so unimportant in the face of where the world is currently) as YOU WILL NOT GET A RESPONSE.

I do not and will not engage in arguments that are based in willful ignorance over issues of human rights and that is exactly what BLM is. And if you refuse to even acknowledge let alone reject racism on a personal, systemic and institutional basis, you are IN THE WRONG. That is not just an opinion, it is fact and you can argue it all you want but again, YOU WILL NOT GET A RESPONSE from me because you are not worth my time or effort.

And if anyone is more offended at my use of the word FUCKING (which is one way I choose to express my RAGE) in my posts (or my continued instance that black lives do indeed matter) than the continued murder of people based solely on the colour of their skin, I would strongly suggest you look internally at why that is. And consider that Implicit bias is also a thing and it affects all humans in any number of ways not just as regards race, and in many ways that we are quite often unaware of. You can read about it in this book Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do.

#BlackLivesMatter They MUST matter in order for all lives to matter, and those of you who continue to argue this simple fact are those who don't actually agree that ALL lives do in fact, matter.

A World Without Heroes

Does Asian Lives Matter?

Tseizo wrote: "Does Asian Lives Matter?"

Did an Asian cop stand by and do nothing while a white cop murdered George Floyd?

Currently reading How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and must say it is very good. It's interesting when one thinks we know about a subject and realize suddenly that we really didn't know about it, yet we tell ourselves we do. Why didn't I know that? Why didn't I ever vocalize anything about it, but was aware of it? The more I learn, the more I need to know.

Miryamu wrote: "Anybody could recommend where to start among those books? I've got a tight budget, so I have to pick one or two, but they all seem interesting..."
When in doubt, go to the Public Library. All these books can be found at the public library. Sometimes, you have to wait a bit, but they are there! And they are free!

Josiah wrote: "I have yet to read Kendi's most recent book, but can highly recommend "Stamped From the Beginning". It reads like a people's history and highlights key African American thinkers from Frederick Doug..."
Josiah, That is a good book. There is also a version of Kendi's book, "Stamped from the Beginning" for middle school & up. From an interview I listened, Kendi convinced Jason Reynolds to re-write his book for a younger audience. It is great also.

kittykat wrote: "would you want to wake up tomorrow and live the rest of your life as a black person in your corner of the world?"

Very much a question that white Americans need to seriously contemplate.

For those going 'all lives matter', I heard a black youtuber come with a great analogy to illustrate how shoddy that kind of reasoning is:

You call the fire department because your house is on fire. The firefighters come to put it down and a neighbor, whose house is unscathed, scrambles down the yard and goes, 'Why isn't anyone making a fuss about my house?! Doesn't my house matter as well?!"

The neighbor fails to see that while all houses are indeed equally valuable, only one of them is actually burning and in danger and, as such, needs to be actively protected lest it burns down to the ground along with everyone in it.

Honestly, anyone arguing against BLM in this thread at this point is past the point of "ignorance" and way into "they know how the system gives them power and want to keep it that way." Not worth the time that they can obviously spend sitting in front of a computer and rage quitting at random strangers on the Internet.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson is very eye-opening.

Rai wrote: "@Ella, save your energy - he's a racist and a bigot and nothing you say is going to get through to him. He just wants an argument to make himself feel like he's achieving something."

Roots is also a TV show and gives history and background and Alex Haley is an excellent wordsmith https://www.ebay.com/itm/B000GQJCE8-R...-

Hazel Bee wrote: "Paul wrote: "Ella wrote: "Paul wrote: "All Lives Matter."

That goes without saying, but black lives are being subjected to systematic racism, abuse, and violence all over the world right now. The ..."

His Voice Is Wonderful and ROOTs is FREE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq7lI...

Proud to be European. There are bad and good people of all backgrounds. Skin colour is just a reflection of the physical environment. Warm environments need darker skin, cooler environments paler. I don't care what colour skin a person is. That is totally immaterial to me. If I like you, I like you. If I don't, I don't. I am heartily sick of the whole world suddenly thinking that if you are European, Scandanavian or whatever, then you think people who have darker shades of skin don't matter. Not true. Why can't we be proud of being English just like I would be proud of my background if I was Kenyan. All people of a European background are now being lumped into the same racist. Over it.

If you're white, there's nothing to be 'over.' Why would you be 'over' something that calls out your privilege???
Because it calls you out for having a massive advantage, and the only moral response to that is to ask how you can return that stuff to the POCs to whom it belongs.
Get it? As long as your privilege doesn't exist, neither does our oppression.
OUR OPPRESSION EXISTS as a dictate of the 500 year worldwide establishment of white supremacy which Europeans name the 'Enlightenment' despite the fact that 90% of the human race was cast into darkness as a result of these despicable shenanigans.

Let's hope that, each time someone like you says you're 'over it,' you are reminded that POC's aren't 'over it' because your profound unearned advantage continues to steal things from us.

White people, or people with a European background, should maintain that white identity until all vestiges of the DARK mess of the last 500 years are eliminated.

The human race took some very big steps back in the last 500 years. It's time to admit the disastrous mess Europe has inflicted on the rest of the planet and try resuming our course of progressive evolution.

I'd addWhite Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo to this list, and I strongly recommend others to start with that book.

I just finished The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton. I thought it was excellent. It definitely opened the eyes of this 70 year old white privileged woman!

Ryan wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Ryan wrote: ""The human race took some very big steps back in the last 500 years."

I wouldn't say it's just in the last 500 years. In fact, I'd wager we've been walking backwards, si..."

Yes even though there are still problems, we have come a long way from 1863 and 1964.

Night wrote: "Even though she is British and not American, I really liked Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge. It is very instructive, and in..."

I have an entire degree in critical race studies, and this book by FAR is the best thing you can do for yourself.