Our librarians have curated a list of materials focused on creating a dialog on social justice and the BIPOC experience in America. Whether you are having a conversation with your family, colleagues, neighbors, or learning more on your own, we hope these selections will continue to foster learning.
Picture Books
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson & illustrated by Rafael López
A Different Pond by Bao Phi & illustrated by Thi Bui
Drawn Together by Minh Lê & illustrated by Dan Santat
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales (also available on Hoopla)
Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry & illustrated by Vashti Harrison
I, Too, Am American by Langston Hughes & illustrated by Bryan Collier
Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson & illustrated by Frank Morrison (also available on Hoopla)
Little Humans by Brandon Stanton
The Proudest Blue: a Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali & illustrated by Hatem Aly
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family's Fight For Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh (also available on Hoopla)
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o & illustrated by Vashti Harrison
Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez & illustrated by Jaime Kim
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levison & illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton
Youth
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Clean Getaway by Nic Stone
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée (audio is also available on Hoopla)
It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
New Kid by Jerry Craft (also available on Hoopla)
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell & Illustrated by Aurélia Durand
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander & illustrated by Kadir Nelson
We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Wells Hudson
What’s Racism? by Amy B. Rogers (also available on Hoopla)
Teen
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Black Enough: Stories Of Being Young and Black In America edited by Ibi Zoboi (audio is available on Hoopla)
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Slay by Brittney Morris
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
Adult Fiction
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Another Country by James Baldwin
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Native Son by Richard Wright
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Adult Biography and Memoir
The Autobiography of Malcom X by Malcom X and Alex Haley
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope by DeRay Mckesson
Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad
Self Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race by Thomas Chatterton Williams
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Adult History and Social Commentary
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights by Gretchen Sorin
How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
White Fragility: Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
