Anti-Racism Resources

This list is only a beginning.  You might wish to do your own search. Search for books by black authors, books about social justice, or books about black history.  There is so much more to learn. Check Ridgefield Library’s selections; if they don’t have what you’re looking for, ask them to purchase it (they will).

You may purchase these books for curbside pickup at Books on the Common at 404 Main St, Ridgefield, by emailing or by calling (203) 431-9100. Read book summaries on the Ridgefield Allies reading list or purchase online at Books on the Common’s online store.

• “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• ”The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together” by Heather McGhee
• “American Poison: How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise” by Eduardo Porter
• “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin J. DiAngelo
• “So You Want to Talk About Race” by Oluo Ijeoma
• “How to Be An Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
• “White Negroes” by Lauren Michelle Jackson
• “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
• “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas
• “A Short History of Reconstruction” by Eric Foner
• “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander
• “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson
• “Waking Up White: And Finding Myself in the Story of Race” by Debby Irving
• “Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland” by Jonathan M. Metzi
• “Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
• “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” by Richard Rothstein
• “Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do” by Jennifer L. Eberhardt
• “Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor” by Layla F. Saad and Robin J. DiAngelo
• Common Sense Media book lists:
  • LatinX Books
  • Books About Racism and Social Justice

• “75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” by Corinne Shutack at medium.com
• “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Atlantic
• ”For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies” by Courtney Ariel at Sourners
• ”31 Children‘s Books to Support Conversations on Race, Racism, and Resistance” at Embrace Race
• ”No Such Thing as Racial Profiling” by Jelani Cobb at The New Yorker
• “Don’t Understand the Protests? What You’re Seeing is People Pushed to the Edge” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at Los Angeles Times
• “A Timeline of Events That Led to the 2020 ‘Fed Up’-rising” by Michael Harriot at The Root
• “What Can We Learn from States That Ban Affirmative Action” by Halley Potter, Senior Fellow, at The Century Foundation
• “How to Respond to ‘Riots Never Solve Anything!‘ by Rafi DAngelo
• “For Our White Friends Desiring to Be Allies” by Courtney Ariel
• “How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change” by President Barack Obama

• “13th” a documentary by Ava DuVernay (Netflix link)
• “The House I Live In” documentary by Eugene Jarecki (Amazon Prime link)
• “Before You Call the Cops — The Tyler Merritt Project | NowThis News” (YouTube link)
• “When Every Word Doesn’t Belong to Everyone” Ta-Nehisi Coates (YouTube link)
• “Amber Ruffin Shares a Lifetime of Traumatic Run-Ins with Police on Late Night with Seth Meyers” (YouTube link)
• “Just Mercy” (Amazon Prime link)
• “When They See Us” (Netflix link)
• “Jay Smooth/Ill Doctrine” (Link)

• The Root
• Black Lives Matter
• Color of Change
• NAACP
• EmbraceRace
• Anti-Racism Resources for All Ages
• Facing History & Ourselves
• The Grio
• GrassROOTS Community Foundation
• Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
• Talking About Race (National Museum of African American History & Culture)
• Dismantling Racism

A great way to understand the diverse perspectives of the black community is to read and follow the blog commentaries of these insightful and often outrageously funny black writers.

• Blavity
• Madame Noire
• Michael Harriot
• Soulful Silverback

• Facing History: Educator Resources
• Young, Gifted, @ Risk and Resilient: A Video Toolkit to Support the Well-Being of Students of Color
• Parents & Students Together: Coping with a Full House During Crisis & Reflections on the Current National Climate
• Educational toys featuring People of Color
• Black History Flashcards
• Urban Intellectuals: Positive Black Stories and Images
• “5 Black Children’s Authors and Illustrators You Should Know” at Baby & Blog
• “A Diverse Summer Reading List for Kids” at NPR.org
• “1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide” at GrassROOTS Community Foundation
• MahoganyBooks
• American Indians in Children’s Literature
• “28 great Black History Month books for kids” by Davina Sinnatamby, Emily Rivas and Emily Pitccinin at Today’s Parent
• “24 Children’s Books to Read to Your Kids in Honor of Black History Month (and year-round, of course)” by Taylor Pittman at HuffPost
• “The 1619 Project Curriculum” at Pulitzer Center
• “Teaching Juneteenth” at Teaching Tolerance
• ”African American History: From Emancipation to the Present” a Yale Open Course

• Antiracist Research and Policy Center @antiracismCtr (Twitter) (Instagram) and @ARPCAU (Facebook)
• Black Women’s Blueprint @blackwomensbp (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• Black Lives Matter @Blklivesmatter (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• Colorlines @colorlines (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• Equal Justice Initiative @eji_org (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• The Conscious Kid @consciouskidlib (Twitter) and @theconsciouskid (Instagram) (Facebook)
• RAICES @raicestexas (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• SisterSong @sisterSong_WOC (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)
• United We Dream @UnitedWeDream (Twitter) (Instagram) (Facebook)

• “We Need to Talk About An Injustice” by Bryan Stevenson
• “How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime” by Nadine Burke Harris
• “How to Deconstruct Racism, One Headline at a Time” by Baratunde Thurston
• “The Urgency of Intersectionality” by Kimberlé Crenshaw

• Code Switch
• 1619
• Seeing White

• ADL: 10 Ways Youth Can Engage in Activism
• Youth Activist Toolkit

• American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts
• Human Rights Campaign
• Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
• NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• National Lawyers Guild defense program for protesters 
• ACLU – Know your Rights for Protesters
• Connecticut Bail Fund

• “Anti-Racism Resource Guide“ Created by Victoria Alexander, MEd.
• “How to Talk to Your Family About Racism: A Guide for White People“ a Instagram slide show
• “Black History Facts & Information“, PDF by the New Mexico Office of African American Affairs (2008)

The following resources were recommended by Dr. Amalia Londono Tobon, clinical fellow of the Yale Child Study Center, and Dr. Wanjiku Njoroge, an adjunct professor at Yale and program director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, for parents who want to have conversations with their kids about race and racism.

• Video:
  • How to talk to kids about racism, protests & injustice: article and video with journalist Sheinelle Jones from the “Today” show. 
• Audio:
  • How white parents can talk about race: NPR’s Michel Martin talks to Jennifer Harvey, author of “Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America,” about how to talk with white kids about racially charged events.
• Articles:
  • Racism and violence: how to help kids handle the news: A guide on supporting your kids during scary times from the Child Mind Institute, a nonprofit focused on children’s mental health.
  • Talking to children about racial bias: steps parents can take to confront their own racial bias and talk about racial differences from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  • How to talk to kids about race and racism: a comprehensive Parent Toolkit on talking to kids about race and racism from NBC News. 
• Books:
  • Where to find diverse children’s books: a guide to blogs and sites where parents can find books featuring diverse characters and highlighting social justice from EmbraceRace, a parent-founded organization to fight systemic racism.
  • Anti-racism books for kids: books for kids of different ages that celebrate racial diversity and explain how diversity makes us stronger from Books for Littles, an organization that uses picture books to help parents have important conversations about social issues.
  • Social justice books for teens: a compilation of books for teens exploring how race, class, gender, size, and sexuality affect our lives from the Chicago Public Library.