Education is the food of youth, the delight of old age, the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity, and the provocation to grace in the soul.
Education is the food of youth, the delight of old age, the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity, and the provocation to grace in the soul.
General
The DR Committee recommends these books for anyone who wants to learn about racism through fiction and non-fiction reading.
Nice Racism: How progressive white people perpetuate Racial Harm by Robin DiAngelo.
Non-fiction. This book is a reflective study for well-meaning people to go deeper into their complicity in racism. Author of White Fragility
White Thinking by Lilian Thuram.
Nonfiction. Illustrates historically that Whites created racism by the way we think. A bit heavy because it is well researched.
Black Racism
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Legacy by Tiya Miles
Non-fiction. Relates the importance of a treasured object in connecting the lives of four generations of enslaved women in the American South.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Non-fiction. A Black father’s “letter” to his son, relating how he will need to face the realities of living as he grows up.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Non-fiction. S. Kathleen Cornell led book study. “Wilkerson's central thesis is that caste, while a global occurrence, achieves its most violent manifestation in the treatment of American Blacks, set at the lowest level in society through historical and contemporary oppression, marginalization and violence — all legally maintained through systems of law and order.” NPR Aug 10, 2020
How To Be an AntiRacist by Ibram X. Kendi
Non-fiction. A good book for understanding basics through Kendi’s experiences from childhood to the present.
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmann Menakem
Non-fiction. This book includes activities to help the reader personalize the material.
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.
Fiction. Set in Connecticut in 1976, this novel “of race, privilege, justice, and compassion” centers on the conflict between a Black nurse and a white father (white supremacist).
Undoing the Knots: Five Generations of American Catholic Anti-Blackness by Maureen O’Connell
Non-fiction. O’Connell gives historical evidence and references to her Irish Catholic family to illustrate her thesis. Quite informative, but a challenging read. (The DR Committee has some of these available for loan.)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Fiction. Story of twin sisters who grow up in a (fictional) town where everyone is a light-skinned African-American. The sisters make two very different choices.
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Non-fiction. This narrative follows three Black families through the Great Migration during the Jim Crow South. (Easy read, biographical as well as historical)
Indigenous Racism
The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King.
Creative non-fiction. This book addresses European contact with Indigenous in both USA and Canada. Of course, there are two distinct perspectives going on this contact. Very readable and full of wit. Thomas King is Indigenous.
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle.
Biography. This book addresses the trauma of a Metis boy (the author himself) who lived through the foster care system and finds recovery. He is currently a professor at York University in Toronto.
Up Ghost River by Ed Metatawabin.
Memoir. based in Canada, a true story, very explicit in relating the generational trauma caused by residential schools. Ends well.
