Social Justice Resources for Deepening Your Knowledge and Getting Out of Your Silos

General Books & Readings

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Ibram X. Kendi

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Bloodline: Odyssey of a Native Daughter by Janet Campbell Hale

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann

Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Blackmon

The New York Times’ 1619 Project 

How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation by Ray Suarez

The Making of Asian America by Erika Lee

The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority by Ellen Wu

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi

How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev

The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg

The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class by David R. Roediger

How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America by Karen Brodkin

Understanding Antisemitism: An Offering to Our Movement by Jews for Racial & Economic Justice

Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone by Heather McGhee

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Home Ownership by Taylor

From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century by Darity, Jr. & Mullen

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Johnathan Metzel

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

“The Case for Reparations” (The Atlantic) by Ta-Nehisi Coates

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Nobel

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

The Racial Healing Handbook by Anneliese Singh

Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice by Mark Warren

Waking Up White by Debby Irving

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey

Raising Antiracist Kids: An Age-by-Age Guide for Parents of White Children by Gienapp

This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do The Work by Tiffany Jewell

Punished: Policing the Lives of Black & Latino Boys by Victor Rios

“Where Diversity Training Goes Wrong: 10 Essential Questions to Ask” by Shayla Reese Griffin  

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Menakem

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Adichie

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper

Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates

Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of a Changing World by Anand Giridharadas

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

$2.00 A Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

The Queeriodic Table by Harriet Dyer

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice by Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha

Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century by Alice Wong

The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

Skin, Tooth, and Bone: The Basis of Movement is Our People, A Disability Justice Primer by Sins Invalid

Privilege, Power and Difference by Allan G. Johnson

Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown 

Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results by Allison Green and Jerry Hauser

Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Readings for Educators

Those Kids, Our Schools: Race and Reform in an American School by Shayla Reese Griffin

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum

We Want to Do More than Survive by Bettina Love

Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks

Grow Wild by Katy Bowman

Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice by Adams, Bell, et al.

BEHAVIOR & DISCIPLINE

Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education by Alex Shervin Venet

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris

Dignity in Schools Model School Code on Education and Dignity

TEACHING & LEARNING

Teaching for Black Lives by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, and Wayne Au

Race Dialogues: A Facilitator’s Guide by Kaplowitz, Griffin, & Seyka

Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices by Lorena Escoto Gemán

Start Here, Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work by Liz Kleinrock

We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need by Cornelius Minor

Letting go of Literary Whiteness by Borshelm-Black, Sarigianides, and Lensmire  

Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers by Gutstein and Peterson

High School Mathematics Lessons to Explore, Understand and Respond to Social Injustice by Berry, Conway, Lawler, Staley

Social Studies, Literacy and Social Justice in the Common Core Classroom by Agarwai-Rangnath

Maawndoonganan: Anishinaabe Resource Manual to Accompany the State of MI Social Studies Standards

Teaching History for Justice: Centering Activism in Students’ Study of the Past by Martell & Stevens

Social Studies for a Better World: An Anti-Oppressive Approach for Elementary Educators by Rodriguez & Swalwell

Reframing the Curriculum: Design for Social Justice & Sustainability by Susan Santone

Advocates for Youth’s Rights, Respect, Responsibility: A K-12 Sexuality Education Curriculum

ASSESSMENT & GRADING

Grading For Equity by Feldman

Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning by Jan Chappuis

“Formative Assessment and the Design of Instructional Systems” by D. Royce Sadler

The Standards-Based Classroom: Make Learning the Goal by Rinkema and Williams

Giving Students a Say: Smarter Assessment Practices to Empower and Engage by Myron Dueck