Citizen Action of New York’s Anti-Racism Reading List

Citizen Action of New York
3 min readAug 4, 2020

As our families push through the ripple effects of COVID-19, participate in the nationwide uprising for Black lives, and prepare for one of the most important elections of our time, our organizers and volunteers created a racial justice reading list to inform the history of systemic racism and fuel the direction for change.

Through our Anti-Racism Reading List, we’re uplifting the voices and wisdom of activists, freedom fighters, professors and more to help us build stronger communities .

Stamped from the Beginning
Ibram X. Kendi

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

I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin

White Fragility
Robin DiAngelo

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors

The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love
Sonya Renee Taylor

A People’s History of the United States
Howard Zinn

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
Brittney Cooper

We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom
Bettina Love

Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (Emergent Strategy)
Adrienne Maree Brown

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

Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (Reading Rainbow Books)
John Steptoe

This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
Morgan Jerkins

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

Labyrinth of a Melaninated Being: A Collection of Poems
poetik

From Superman to Man
J.A. Rogers

Citizen
Claudia Rankine

Notes of a Native Son
James Baldwin

Dutchman
Amiri Baraka

The Fire Next Time
James Baldwin

The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Malcolm X and Alex Haley

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood
Chris Emdin

As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior
Marimba Ani

The Africa centered perspective of history and social sciences in the twenty-first century
C. Tsehloane Keto

Black Looks: Race and Representation
bell hooks

Waking Up White
Debby Irving

Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power
James Tracy & Amy Sonnie

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

Winning a world that we want is possible. Together we can achieve our vision by fighting for social, racial, economic, and environmental justice in our communities. Join the movement for justice!

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Citizen Action of New York

We look for opportunities to create big changes in NY and the US. Our power comes from the grassroots: people coming together to push the edge of the possible.