Do you know that American policing started as a way to keep slaves in line? Do you know that slavery still exists in the form of mass incarceration and the prison-industrial complex? Do you think that posting a black box on Instagram for #blackouttuesday was a better idea than making a donation, signing petitions, or supporting Black-owned businesses?
If by any chance you’re looking to educate yourself on the history of racial inequality and the Black Lives Matter movement, cracking open a book (or firing up your e-reader) is a good place to start. Today’s reading list is made up of 20 informative books written by Black authors, journalists, and intellectuals, is organized by publishing date to trace the Black experience in America over time. Each and every book on this list is linked to a Black-owned bookstore you can shop online. You can also find a Black-owned bookstore near you.
The Fire Next Time
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Americanah
Citizen: An American Lyric
Between the World and Me
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain
They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement
Nobody: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, From Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide
From #BlackLives Matter to Black Liberation
The Fire This Time
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Making All Black Lives Matter: Reimagining Freedom in the Twenty-First Century
Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People
So You Want to Talk About Race
How to Be an Antiracist
Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot
