Racism & Anti-Racism: Recommended reads for adults

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

Updated April 9, 2024
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1

Bringing up race : how to raise a kind child in a prejudiced world
Asika, Uju
Paper Book
"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.

2

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.

3

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.

4

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...

5

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.

6

Women, race, & class. [online electronic book]
Davis, Angela Yvonne, 1944-
Ebook
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.

7

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.

8

Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race /
Eddo-Lodge, Reni.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This is a book that was begging to be written. This is the kind of book that demands a future where we'll no longer need such a book. Essential." --Marlon James "The most important book for me this year." --Emma Watson<...
Also available in eBook format.

9

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.

10

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.

11

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.

12

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...

13

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.

14

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...

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.

15

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.

16

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.

17

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.

18

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.

19

Racism : a very short introduction /
Rattansi, Ali
Paper Book
From subtle discrimination in everyday life and scandals in politics, to incidents like lynchings in the American South, cultural imperialism, and 'ethnic cleansing', racism exists in many different forms, in almost every facet of society. But what actually is race? How has racism come to be so...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

20

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.

21

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...

22

As we have always done : [online electronic book] indigenous freedom through rad
Simpson, Leanne, 1971-
Ebook
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...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

23

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.

24

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...

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