The following are books for each age group to be introduced to and explore race, racial injustice, appreciation of diversity, how to be anti-racist, social justice issues, white privilege, white supremacy, and why and how these issues developed in the United States. This list was compiled by NYLC Alumna, René Jameson.
For a list of bookstores owned by Black Americans in the U.S., check here.
Books for Kids
○ All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
○ Something Happened In Our Town by Marianne Celano and Marietta Collins
○ Anti-Racist Baby by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
○ A is For Activist by Innosanto Nagara
○ We’re Different, We’re the Same by Bobbi Kates
○ Lovely by Jess Hong
○ Skin Again by Bell Hooks
○ The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
○ The Skin You Live In by Michael J Tyler
○ The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
○ Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You! By Sonia Sotomayor
○ Let’s Dance by Valerie Bolling
○ Layla’s Happiness by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
Books for Teens
○ Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
○ Civil Rights Then and Now by Kristina Brooke
○ March Series by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
○ The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
○ Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Books for Young Adult/Adults
○ How to be Anti-Racist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
○ Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
○ White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
○ The Color Of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein.
○ So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
○ Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
○ The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
○ Stamped From The Beginning by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi