Resource List

Other Ways to Listen and Learn

There are SO MANY stories and resources available out there! Here are just a few suggestions.
We’d love to hear from our community about stories and resources that you have found helpful.

Listen and Learn from the stories of Black Americans

• Just Mercy
  “A powerful and thought-provoking true story, Just Mercy follows young lawyer Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) and his history-making battle for justice.”
  Watch the film on Amazon Prime free in June
  Watch the film on YouTube free in June
  Watch the film on iTunes free in June
  Order the Book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• Becoming
  “In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.”
  Watch the documentary on Netflix
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• I Am Not Your Negro
  Director Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, Remember This House. It is a journey into black history that connects the Civil Rights movement to #BlackLivesMatter. It questions black representation in Hollywood and beyond.
  Watch the Film
  Read James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time

• Other Stories
  • Black Man, White City – Local Seattle article on KUOW by Tonya Mosley. (2013)
  • The Problem We All Live With – This American Life episode featuring New York Times Magazine reporter, Nikole Hannah-Jones. (2015)

Listen and Learn about Whiteness and White Privilege

• Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving
  “Waking Up White is the book Irving wishes someone had handed her decades ago. By sharing her sometimes cringe-worthy struggle to understand racism and racial tensions, she offers a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• White Awake: An Honest Look at What it Means to be White by Pastor Daniel Hill
  “It’s crucial to understand both personal and social realities in the areas of race, culture, and identity. This book will give you a new perspective on being white and also empower you to be an agent of reconciliation in our increasingly diverse and divided world.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
  The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the Book on Bookshop.org

• Articles and Other Resources
  • White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh (1989)
  • Seeing White: a podcast by Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen (2017)

Listen and Learn from the Voices of Black Writers

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander
  “[This iconic best seller] has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander’s unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” As the Birmingham Newsproclaimed, it is “undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
  “In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
  “Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilites—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their posionous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• Other Articles and Resources
  • “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Article by Beverly Daniel Tatum (2003)
  • The Next Question – A video web series, executive produced by Austin Channing Brown and co-hosted by Chi Chi Okwu and Jenny Booth Potter.

Books For Children: 

We anticipate that parents or caregivers will pre-read books to determine if the book fits the child’s comprehension levels and ability to process difficult subjects. 

• Can I Touch Your Hair by Irene Lathum and Charles Waters
  “Two poets, one white and one black, explore race and childhood in this must-have collection tailored to provoke thought and conversation. 
  How can Irene and Charles work together on their fifth grade poetry project? They don’t know each other . . . and they’re not sure they want to. Irene Latham, who is white, and Charles Waters, who is black, use this fictional setup to delve into different experiences of race in a relatable way, exploring such topics as hair, hobbies, and family dinners.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• One Crazy Summer and Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia
  Each humorous, unforgettable story follows the Gaither sisters as they grow up during one of the most tumultuous eras in recent American history, the 1960s. Read the adventures of eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, as they visit their kin all over the rapidly changing nation—and as they discover that the bonds of family, and their own strength, run deeper than they ever knew possible.
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
  Discover the inside story of the Civil Rights Movement through the eyes of one of its most iconic figures, Congressman John Lewis. March is the award-winning, #1 bestselling graphic novel trilogy recounting his life in the movement, co-written with Andrew Aydin and drawn by Nate Powell.
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• Drowned City. Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans by Don Brown
  On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina’s monstrous winds and surging water overwhelmed the protective levees around low-lying New Orleans, Louisiana. Eighty percent of the city flooded, in some places under twenty feet of water. Property damages across the Gulf Coast topped $100 billion. One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three people lost their lives. The riveting tale of this historic storm and the drowning of an American city is one of selflessness, heroism, and courage—and also of incompetence, racism, and criminality.
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org

• Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatium
  “Almost 10 years before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sylvia Mendez and her parents helped end school segregation in California. An American citizen of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage who spoke and wrote perfect English, Mendez was denied enrollment to a “Whites only” school. Her parents took action by organizing the Hispanic community and filing a lawsuit in federal district court. Their success eventually brought an end to the era of segregated education in California.”
  Order the book on Amazon
  Order the book on Bookshop.org