The white privilege infographic you posted on your Instagram story isn’t cutting it. Want to be a better ally? Here’s a (in no way comprehensive) list of resources to educate yourself on anti-racism and Blackness. This compilation draws from multiple resource lists from activists like Layla F. Saad (@laylafsaad) and Rachel E. Cargle (@rachel.cargle), and social media accounts @parade, @changingwomxn, @dehyedration, @mpd_150, and @rosiegguks. They put in the real work of finding these resources, I’ve just compiled them for our Her Campus readers. Share what you’re reading with us @hercampusatuva on Instagram and Twitter!
Books
I encourage you to buy these books from Black-owned bookstores, such as the stores linked below: Mahogany Books, The Lit. Bar: Bookstore & Chill, Harriett’s Bookshop, or Semicolon Bookstore & Gallery. If you don’t want to buy the books, many of these are available through public libraries or can be found in PDF versions online.
“Are Prisons Obsolete?” by Angela Davis
“Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System” by Cyntoia Brown-Long
“The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander
“The First Civil Right” by Naomi Murakawa
“Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color” by Andrea J. Ritchie
“Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson
“The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein
“On Intersectionality” by Kimberle Crenshaw
“Women, Race, and Class” by Angela Davis
“Assata: An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur
“Sister Outsider” by Audre Lorde
“Ain’t I A Woman” by bell hooks
“Hood Feminism” by Mikki Kendall
“A Black Women’s History of the United States” by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
“White Fragility” by Robin Diangelo
“Citizen” by Claudia Rankine
“Blindspot” by Banaji Mahzarin and Anthony Greenwald
“Killing the Black Body” by Dorothy Roberts
“Racial Formation in the United States” by Omi and Winant
“Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad
“They Were Her Property” by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
“The Address Book” by Deirdre Mask
“White Negros” by Lauren Michele Jackson
“Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
“The End of Policing” by Alex Vitale
“Abolition Now! 10 Years of Strategy Against the Prison Industrial Complex,” anthology
“Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America” by Kristian Williams
Articles
“75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice” by Corinne Shutack (super helpful)
“The 1619 Project” by Nikole Hanna-Jones
“The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“When the Media Treats White Suspects and Killers Better Than Black Victims” by Nick Wing
“Photos Reveal Media’s Softer Tone of Opioid Crisis” by Michael Shaw
“Why You Need to Stop Saying ‘All Lives Matter’” by Rachel E. Cargle
“A Social Syllabus Series” by Rachel E. Cargle
“When Feminism is White Supremacy in Heels” by Rachel E. Cargle
“How to Talk to Your Family About Racism on Thanksgiving” by Rachel E. Cargle
“20+ Allyship Actions for Asians to Show Up for the Black Community Right Now” by Michelle Kim
“Beyond the Hashtag: How to Take Anti-Racist Action in Your Life” by Zyahna Bryant
Videos/Films
Neil Degrasse Tyson on being Black, and Women in Science
“The First Time I Realized I Was Black” video series from CNN
4 Black Lives Matter Myths Debunked | Decoded | MTV News featuring Franchesca Ramsey
“Unpacking White Feminism” live lecture by Rachel E. Cargle
Coming to Terms With Racism’s Inertia: Ancestral Accountability | Rachel Cargle | TEDxBend
“How Race and Gender Intersect in the Women’s Movement” with Simone Boyce and Rachel E. Cargle
13th by Ava DuVernay
When They See Us by Ava DuVernay
Other Resources
Racial Justice Research Document by Rachel E. Cargle (pdf)
Ally Henny’s guide to de-colonizing your bookshelf
Community POC Reading Recommendations, curated by Rachel E. Cargle
“Algorithms of Oppression” book club and study group by Mandy Harris Williams, Free Black Women’s Library, and Women’s Center for Creative Work
“Enough is Enough,” a 150-year performance review of the Minneapolis Police Department, by MPD150 (pdf, audiobook)
“On Community Policing: Whose Community?” by MPD150 (pdf)
Black History Month Library, compiled by Charles Preston (huge database of free PDFs!)
ANTIRACIST ALLYSHIP STARTER PACK compiled by Tatum Dorrell, Matthew Herndon, and Jourdan Dorrell (SO MANY GOOD RESOURCES HERE!)
Anti-Racism Resources for White People from @dehyedration
Resources to Help Black People/Communities from @dehyedration
Master List of Resources from @dehyedration
BLM Master Thread, compiled by @rosiegguks