If you are anything like me, when a current event topic hits the national stage that you feel woefully under-informed about, you may start compiling a reading list. Books help me conceptualize the big things in life and, hopefully, I walk away from my reading with a deeper understanding of the complexities of an issue and greater empathy for those who the issue affects on a personal level.
Which is why I wanted to offer some suggestions to our blog readers for books that can deepen their understanding of racial issues in America. This, however, is not my area of expertise and while any librarian worth her salt can do an extensive literature search, I wanted to pull in some additional brain power. So one of my fellow bloggers kindly reached out to a professor at Northeastern University to ask for her reading suggestions. The professor directed us to two hashtag syllabi.
If you don’t know what a hashtag syllabus is, you aren’t alone. They are a new to me as well. And how I do love new book-related things! Librarian of Things, Mita Williams, has explained them this way: “These syllabi are the collective efforts of many people who are sharing and recommending works of fiction, poetry, non-fiction articles and book-length works, as well as scholarly articles and theses. They are doing so in the pursuit of a richer, more complex, and more nuanced understanding of each other and the issues we face both alone and together.” Now I have a rather conflicted relationship with social media, but that does sound simply wonderful to me. Crowd-sourced book lists? Count me in!
The two syllabi our academic expert suggested are #blacklivesmattersyllabus
From the Black Lives Matter Syllabus:
Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin. Published in 1952, this fictional work is a modern classic by one of the great African-American writers. This coming of age novel set during the Depression hits the big themes: father/son relationships, racial oppression, religion and a desire for community.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This National Book Award winning memoir is written as a letter from the author to his son and while it is deeply personal, it is also a reflection on the brutal history of race in America and how that informs the current events that have captured the nation’s attention over the past few years.
Democracy Matters by Cornel West. The author of Race Matters, West argues that imperialism, corruption and racism are threatening American democracy. Drawing on the works of musicians, artists, writers and philosophers, he presents an alternative vision for a democracy that he believes will value love, justice and community.
In order to ensure that the voices of African-American women are include in dialogues about race, the Lemonade Syllabus collects fiction, literature, autobiography, academic works, inspiration, poetry, photography music and film from a feminist perspective.
What Crazy Looks Like on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage. After revealing that she is HIV positive, jaded with love, Ava returns to her hometown in Michigan for what she believes will be a brief stay only to find herself pulled into the life of pregnant teenage girls and a man with a complicated past.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. By now, this novel of Janie Stark’s life and relationships in black communities in small southern towns is considered to be another modern day classic.
Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker. Best known for her novel, The Color Purple, here Walker takes on female gentile mutilation through the story of Tashi, who escaped the practice as a child only to submit to it as an adult in the hopes of reconnecting with her heritage.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs. First published in 1861, this remains one of the few slave narratives written by a woman.
Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou. This collection of short essays combine stories of Angelou’s personal experiences with her often hard-won life advice.
A Piece of Ca
ke by Cupcake Brown. Life seems to have thrown Brown all of its worst: the death of a mother, physical and sexual abuse, abandonment, gangs, prostitution, drug addiction. Yet her story ends on a hopeful note as she details how she overcame all of this and became a lawyer and motivational speaker.
As a final note, if you are looking for books to suggest to or, even better, read and discuss with the teens in your life, the Hennepin County Library compiled a list of #BlackLivesMatter Reads for Teens.
March by John Lewis. This important graphic novel is written by a United States congressman about his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement through marches and boycotts.
No Choirboy by Susan Kuklin. Kuklin’s book is based on in depth interviews she did with teenage boys on death row. These five young men’s stories reveal much about the realities and inequalities in the justice and prison systems.
Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose. Less well known by far than Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin was an African-American teenager who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and helped spark the Civil Rights Movement’s bus boycott and subsequent court case that challenged racial segregation laws.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers. One of my long time favorite young adult novels, Monster is formatted as a screenplay being written by an African-American teenage on trial for murder.