Racism & Anti-Racism: Recommended reads for adults

Learn about forms of racism, race privilege, and anti-racism

Updated April 9, 2024
W
Winnipeg Public Library
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1

Identifying As Arab in Canada: A Century of Immigration History
Asal, Houda
Paper Book
While "Arabs" now attract considerable attention - from media, the state, and sociological studies - their history in Canada remains little known. Identifying as Arab in Canada begins to rectify this invisibilization by exploring the migration from Machrek (the Middle East) to Canada from the late...
Canadian author.

2

The new age of empire : how racism and colonialism still rule the world
Andrews, Kehinde
Paper Book
A damning exploration of the many ways in which the effects and logic of anti-black colonialism continue to inform our modern world. Colonialism and imperialism are often thought to be distant memories, whether they're glorified in Britain's collective nostalgia or...

3

Bringing up race : how to raise a kind child in a prejudiced world
Asika, Uju
Ebook
"Uju Asika has written a necessary book for our times."--Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters' Street You can't avoid it, because it's everywhere. In the looks Black kids get in certain spaces, the manner in which some people speak to them, the stuff that goes over their heads. Stuff...
Also available in eBook format.

4

The Ku Klux Klan in Canada : a century of promoting racism and hate in the peaceable kingdom
Bartley, Allan
Paper Book
The Ku Klux Klan came to Canada thanks to some energetic American promoters who saw it as a vehicle for getting rich by selling memberships to white, mostly Protestant Canadians. In Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, the Klan found fertile ground for its message of racism and...
Canadian author.

5

Kuei, my friend : a conversation on racism and reconciliation
Béchard, Deni Ellis
Paper Book
Kuei, My Friend is an engaging book of letters: a literary and political encounter between Innu poet Natasha Kanapé Fontaine and Québécois-American novelist Deni Ellis Béchard. Choosing the epistolary form, they decided to engage together in a frank conversation about racism and reconciliation....

Kuei, je te salue est la rencontre litteraire et politique de la poete Innu Natasha Kanape Fontaine et du romancier Deni Ellis Bechard, qui ont decide d'entamer une conversation sans tabou sur le racisme entre Autochtones et Allochtones.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

Auteurs canadiens.

6

Kuei, My Friend: A Conversation on Racism and Reconciliation
Béchard, Deni Ellis
Paper Book
Kuei, My Friend is an engaging book of letters: a literary and political encounter between Innu poet Natasha Kanapé Fontaine and Québécois-American novelist Deni Ellis Béchard. Choosing the epistolary form, they decided to engage together in a frank conversation about racism and reconciliation....
Canadian author.

7

Becoming an ally : breaking the cycle of oppression in people
Bishop, Anne
Paper Book
Becoming an Ally is a book for men who want to end sexism, white people who want to end racism, straight people who want to end heterosexism, able-bodied people who want to end ableism -- for all people who recognize their privilege and want to move toward a more just world by learning to act as...

8

The antiracism handbook : practical tools to shift your mindset & uproot racism in your life & community
Bryant-Davis, Thema
Paper Book
An antiracist society starts with you. Gain the psychological skills you need to adopt an antiracist mindset and make meaningful and equitable changes in your community--and in the world. Racism has reached epidemic levels in our country, and every single day we see acts of...
Also avialable in eBook format.

9

We Go Where They Go: The Story of Anti-Racist Action
Clay, Shannon
Paper Book
What does it mean to risk all for your beliefs? How do you fight an enemy in your midst?  We Go Where They Go recounts the thrilling story of a massive forgotten youth movement that set the stage for today's anti-fascist organizing in North America. When skinheads...
Canadian author.

10

The skin we're in : a year of Black resistance and power
Cole, Desmond
Paper Book
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates, a bracing, provocative and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy and inspire activists.

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

11

Black matters
Cooper, Afua
Paper Book
Halifax's former Poet Laureate Afua Cooper and photographer Wilfried Raussert collaborate in this book of poems and photographs focused on everyday Black experiences. The result is a jambalaya - a dialogue between image and text. Cooper translates Raussert's photos into poetry, painting a profound...

Canadian author.

12

What white people can do next : from allyship to coalition
Dabiri, Emma
Paper Book
THE SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER 'An absolute blockbuster of clear thinking and new angles...the most clear, alliance building, shame removing look at race. Emma is once-in-a generation clever' Caitlin Moran We need to talk about racial...

13

Caste : the origins of our discontents
Wilkerson, Isabel
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NEW YORK TIMES READERS PICK: 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21st CENTURY * OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * "An instant American classic and almost certainly the keynote nonfiction book of the American century thus far."--Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Also available in DAISY, eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

14

Women, race & class
Davis, Angela Y.
Paper Book
From one of our most important scholars and civil rights activist icon, a powerful study of the women's liberation movement and the tangled knot of oppression facing Black women. "Angela Davis is herself a woman of undeniable courage. She should be heard."-The New York...

Also available in eBook format.

15

Les Racistes Nont Jamais Vu la Mer
Saint Éloi, Rodney
Paper Book

Deux ecrivains racises pensent le racisme dans une conversation a batons rompus. Sans animosite ni complaisance. Ils font appel a leurs experiences et a leur vecu. Ils invoquent la traversee de leurs pays d'origine au Quebec. Un livre coup de poing ou tout se dit entre vous, entre nous, ces sujets delicats qu'on n'ose pas aborder. Ils essaient de tout nommer, meme ces mots tabous que l'on se chuchote, pour depasser l'entre-soi et trouver le langage qui permet de regarder demain et de construire un vivre ensemble.

Auteurs canadiens.

16

Being Chinese in Canada : the struggle for identity, redress and belonging
Dere, William Ging Wee
Paper Book
After the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885--construction of the western stretch was largely built by Chinese workers--the Canadian government imposed a punitive head tax to deter Chinese citizens from coming to Canada. The exorbitant tax strongly discouraged those who had...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

17

Until we are free : reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada
Diverlus, Rodney
Paper Book
Short-listed, Saskatchewan Book Award, Publishing, 2020 The killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 by a white assailant inspired the Black Lives Matter movement, which quickly spread outside the borders of the United States. The movement's message found fertile ground in Canada, where...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

18

Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race
Eddo-Lodge, Reni
Paper Book
Selected by Emma Watson as the Our Shared Shelf Book Club Pick for January/February 2018 Sunday TimesBestseller Winner of the British Book Awards Non-Fiction Narrative Book of the Year Winner of the Jhalak Prize "This is a book that...
Also available in eBook format.

19

White tears brown scars : how white feminism betrays women of color
Hamad, Ruby
Paper Book
Called "powerful and provocative" by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, author of the New York Times bestselling How to be an Antiracist, this explosive book of history and cultural criticism reveals how white feminism has been used as a weapon of white supremacy and patriarchy deployed against...
Also available in eBook format.

20

Speaking of race : why everybody needs to talk about racism--and how to do it
Headlee, Celeste Anne
Paper Book
"Simply the best book I've read on how to have those conversations. Unflinchingly honest, exceptionally well-reasoned and researched, there is so much to admire about Speaking of Race."--Angela Duckworth, founder and CEO of Character Lab and New York Times bestselling author of Grit A...
Also available in eBook format.

21

Minor feelings : an Asian American reckoning
Hong, Cathy Park
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER * ONE OF TIME'S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE * A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness "Brilliant...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

22

My remarkable journey : a memoir
Johnson, Katherine G.
Paper Book
The remarkable woman at heart of the smash New York Times bestseller and Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures tells the full story of her life, including what it took to work at NASA, help land the first man on the moon, and live through a century of turmoil and change. In...
Also available in eBook format.

23

How to be an antiracist
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a "groundbreaking" (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society--and in ourselves. "The most...

24

How to raise an antiracist
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The book that every parent, caregiver, and teacher needs to raise the next generation of antiracist thinkers, from the author of How to Be an Antiracist and recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Grant. "Kendi's latest . . . combines...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

25

Comment devenir antiraciste
Kendi, Ibram X.
Paper Book

Sur la question du racisme, la neutralite n'est pas une option : tant que nous ne nous impliquons pas dans la solution, nous faisons ineluctablement partie du probleme. Conteur hors-pair et enseignant talentueux, Ibram X. Kendi nous aide a admettre que tout un chacun se fait, de temps a autre, complice du racisme - inconsciemment ou non. En racontant son propre voyage du racisme a l'antiracisme, il nous montre comment faire notre part et demolit le mythe de la societe post-raciale, donnant ainsi naissance a une nouvelle et necessaire perception du racisme : qu'est-il ? Ou se cache-t-il ? Comment le reconnaitre ? Qu'en faire ?

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

26

Distorted descent : white claims to indigenous identity
Leroux, Darryl
Paper Book
Distorted Descent examines a social phenomenon that has taken off in the twenty-first century: otherwise white, French descendant settlers in Canada shifting into a self-defined "Indigenous" identity. This study is not about individuals who have been dispossessed by colonial policies, or the...

Canadian author.

27

The reconciliation manifesto : recovering the land, rebuilding the economy
Manuel, Arthur
Paper Book
In this book, leading Indigenous rights activist Arthur Manuel offers a radical challenge to Canada and Canadians. He questions virtually everything non-Indigenous Canadians believe about their relationship with Indigenous peoples.The Reconciliation Manifesto documents how governments are attempting...
Canadian author.

28

My conversations with Canadians
Maracle, Lee
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the 2018 Toronto Book Award Shortlisted for the First Nation Communities READ 2018-2019 Award On her first book tour at the age of 26, Lee Maracle was asked a question from the audience, one she couldn't possibly answer at that moment. As time passed, she was...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

29

Policing Black lives : state violence in Canada from slavery to the present
Maynard, Robyn
Paper Book
Delving behind Canada's veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

30

Policing Black lives : state violence in Canada from slavery to the present
Maynard, Robyn
Paper Book
Delving behind Canada's veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state...

Esclavage. Racisme. Segregation. Appauvrissement, peur et haine des Noires. Une histoire du Canada. Un livre a lire absolument. La verite a souvent un gout amer. Nous ne savons comment accepter nos histoires. Faut-il s'en tenir aux faits et dire la verite ? Cet ouvrage monumental si richement documente est précieux, il nous tire de l'oubli et du silence. Que savons-nous de l'esclavage ?

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

Auteure canadienne.

31

Structures of indifference : an indigenous life and death in a Canadian city
McCallum, Mary Jane Logan
Paper Book
Structures of Indifference examines an Indigenous life and death in a Canadian city and what it reveals about the ongoing history of colonialism. In September 2008, Brian Sinclair, a middle-aged, non-Status Anishinaabe resident of Winnipeg, arrived in the emergency room of a major downtown...
Canadian author.

32

Witness to loss : race, culpability, and memory in the dispossession of Japanese Canadians
Sugiman, Pamela H.
Paper Book
When the federal government uprooted and interned Japanese Canadians en masse in 1942, Kishizo Kimura saw his life upended along with tens of thousands of others. But his story is also unique: as a member of two controversial committees that oversaw the forced sale of the property of Japanese...
Canadian author.

33

My grandmother's hands : racialized trauma and the pathway to mending our hearts and bodies
Menakem, Resmaa
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BESTSELLER "My Grandmother's Hands will change the direction of the movement for racial justice."-- Robin DiAngelo, New York Times bestselling author of White Fragility In this groundbreaking book, therapist Resmaa Menakem examines the...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

34

Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada: A Reader
Cannon, Martin John
Paper Book
This unique collection of readings written primarily by Indigenous scholars explores how the convergence of racism and colonialism has shaped the lives of Indigenous people. The text aims to provide insight into what can be done to address historic wrongdoings while also showing how much can be...

Canadian author.

35

Racism : a very short introduction
Rattansi, Ali
Paper Book
There is often a demand for a short, sharp definition of racism, for example as captured in the popular formula Power + Prejudice= Racism. But in reality, racism is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be captured by such definitions. In our world today there are a variety of racisms...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

36

Me and white supremacy : combat racism, change the world, and become a good ancestor
Saad, Layla F
Paper Book
The New York Times and USA Today bestseller! This eye-opening book challenges you to do the essential work of unpacking your biases, and helps white people take action and dismantle the privilege within themselves so that you can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color,...
Also available in eBook, eAudiobook and Large Print formats.

37

The rebel's clinic : the revolutionary lives of Frantz Fanon
Shatz, Adam
Paper Book
Named a best book of 2024 so far by The New York Times | The New Yorker | Vulture Longlisted for the 2024 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction "Nimble and engrossing . . . [An] exemplary work of public intellectualism." --Becca...

38

As we have always done : indigenous freedom through radical resistance
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake
Paper Book
Winner: Native American and Indigenous Studies Association's Best Subsequent Book 2017 Honorable Mention: Labriola Center American Indian National Book Award 2017 Across North America, Indigenous acts of resistance have in recent years opposed the...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

39

How we fight white supremacy : a field guide to Black resistance
Solomon, Akiba
Paper Book
This celebration of Black resistance, from protests to art to sermons to joy, offers a blueprint for the fight for freedom and justice -- and ideas for how each of us can contribute Many of us are facing unprecedented attacks on our democracy, our privacy, and our hard-won civil...
Also available in eAudiobook format.

40

Seven fallen feathers : racism, death, and hard truths in a northern city
Talaga, Tanya
Paper Book
Winner, 2017 Shaughnessy Cohen Writers' Trust Prize for Political Writing Winner, 2017 RBC Taylor Prize Winner, 2017 First Nation Communities Read: Young Adult/Adult Winner, 2024 Blue Metropolis First Peoples Prize, for the whole of her work Finalist, 2017 Hilary Weston...

Also available in Book Club Kit, eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

41

Chiru Sakura -- Falling Cherry Blossoms: A Mother & Daughter's Journey Through Racism, Internment and Oppression
Thomson, Grace Eiko
Paper Book
At eight years old, Grace Eiko Nishikihama was forcibly removed from her Vancouver home and interned with her parents and siblings in the BC Interior. Chiru Sakura--Falling Cherry Blossoms is a moving and politically outspoken memoir written by Grace, now a grandmother, with passages from a journal...
Canadian author.

42

Indigenous writes : a guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit issues in Canada
Vowel, Chelsea.
Paper Book
Delgamuukw. Sixties Scoop. Bill C-31. Blood quantum. Appropriation. Two-Spirit. Tsilhqot'in. Status. TRC. RCAP. FNPOA. Pass and permit. Numbered Treaties. Terra nullius. The Great Peace... Are you familiar with the terms listed above? In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel, legal...

43

The diary of Dukesang Wong : a voice from Gold Mountain
Wong, Dukesang
Paper Book
Here is the only known first-person account from a Chinese worker on the famously treacherous parts of transcontinental railways that spanned the North American continent in the nineteenth century. The story of those Chinese workers has been told before, but never in a voice from among their number,...
Canadian author.

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