1. Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Ibram X. Kendi  https://www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped  — Chronicles the history of how anti-Black concepts were created to rationalize discriminatory policies and inequities and why they persist.
  2. Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain https://www.ibramxkendi.com/400-souls  — Featuring ninety writers, provides essays interspersed with poetry regarding the “four-hundred-year journey of African Americans” beginning in 1619.
  3. Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates https://ta-nehisicoates.com/books/between-the-world-and-me/ — National Book Award winner; message to the author’s son provides a deep understanding of what it is like to live in the United States as a Black person.
  4. The Racial Healing Handbook: Practical Activities to Help You Challenge Privilege, Confront Systemic Racism, and Engage in Collective Healing, by Anneliese A. Singh https://www.newharbinger.com/racial-healing-handbook  — “A powerful and practical guide to help you navigate racism, challenge privilege, manage stress and trauma, and begin to heal.”
  5. Privilege, Power, and Difference, by Allen G. Johnson https://www.agjohnson.us/books/privilege/ — Examines systems of privilege and difference in society, linking “theory with engaging examples in ways that enable readers to see the underlying nature and consequences of privilege and their connection to it.
  6. Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do, by Claude Steele https://claudesteele.com/book/  — A non-technical work based on years of research about the interplay of stereotypes and identity, impacts of stereotypes, and approaches for mitigating those threats.
  7. How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram Kendi https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist and library/discussion guides https://guides.library.cornell.edu/antiracist  — A book and supporting resources regarding what racism is, what it means to be antiracist, and why wrestling with these issues is important to our societal future.
  8. Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374533557 — While not focused on social justice per se, fast and slow systems in the way our minds work inform how we make choices and judgments affected by cognitive biases.
  9. Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism, by Rosalind S. Chou  and Joe R. Feagin  https://www.routledge.com/Myth-of-the-Model-Minority-Asian-Americans-Facing-Racism-Second-Edition/Chou-Feagin/p/book/9781594515873 — Explores how Asian Americans experience racism and the effects of racial stereotyping.
  10. Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony Greenwald http://blindspot.fas.harvard.edu/Book — Explores “hidden biases that we all carry from a lifetime of experiences with social groups – age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, sexuality, disability status, or nationality.”
  11. So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/  — Examines racism in the United States and how race permeates “almost every aspect of American life.”
  12. Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, by Ijeoma Oluo, https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/mediocre/9781549150302/ — Analyzes 150 years of U.S. history in the context of “white male supremacy on women, people of color, and white men themselves,” challenging the reader to “imagine a new white male identity, one free from racism and sexism.”
  13. An African American and Latinx History of the United States, by Paul Ortiz http://www.beacon.org/An-African-American-and-Latinx-History-of-the-United-States-P1284.aspx “An intersectional history of the shared struggle for African American and Latinx civil rights.”
  14. I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown http://austinchanning.com/books — Uncovers “how white, middle-class, Evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility” through “stories that bear witness to the complexity of America’s social fabric.”
  15. Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228365/democracy-in-black-by-eddie-s-glaude-jr/  — Challenges the notion of the United States as a post-racial society.
  16. Me and White Supremacy: A 28-Day Challenge to Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor, by Layla F. Saad   http://laylafsaad.com/meandwhitesupremacy — Prompts readers to understand concepts of white privilege and white supremacy and identify actions toward change.
  17. What If I Say the Wrong Thing? 25 Habits for Culturally Effective People, by Verna A. Myers  https://www.scribd.com/book/241111794/What-if-I-Say-the-Wrong-Thing-25-Habits-for-Culturally-Effective-People — Offers succinct tips on actions each of us can take to make progress in supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  18. Race Talk And the Conspiracy of Silence: Understanding and Facilitating Difficult Dialogues on Race, by Derald Wing Sue https://www.amazon.com/Race-Talk-Conspiracy-Silence-Understanding/dp/1119241987 – Counters the notion of colorblindness as a desirable approach, and “debunks the most pervasive myths using evidence, easy-to-understand examples, and practical tools.
  19. The Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby https://jemartisby.com/books/the-color-of-compromise — “Timely narrative of how people of faith have worked against racial justice, and a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.”
  20. Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation, by Derald Wing Sue and Lisa Spanierman https://www.amazon.com/Microaggressions-Everyday-Life-Derald-Wing/dp/1119513790 – Introduces the concept of microagressions, classifies types, and suggests actions that can be taken by individuals and groups to challenge microagressions.
  21. The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, by Ellen D. Wu https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691168029/the-color-of-success — Chronicles the shift of Asians in American perceived at first as the yellow peril to more contemporary views as model minorities, discussing “implications for how Americans understand race, opportunity, and nationhood.”
  22. Forever Foreigners or Honorary Whites? The Asian Ethnic Experience Today, by Mia Tuan  https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/forever-foreigners-or-honorary-whites/9780813526249# — Contrasts concepts of ethnicity as experienced by Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and white ethnic Americans.
  23. My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts, by Resmaa Menakem https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34146782-my-grandmother-s-hands — Based in body-centered psychology, “a call to action …to recognize that racism is not about the head, but about the body,” offering solutions to “grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide.”