Heather Martin created this guide with contributions from Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Dee McCullough, and Danette Pachtner.
This guide was created in June 2020 as a response to the Duke community's call for education as a prelude to action regarding systemic racism and the struggle for Black liberation in the United States. It focuses on resources available through the Duke Libraries, and is offered as a starting point, not a comprehensive list. Duke Libraries welcome suggestions for additional resources to add to our collections.
The majority of the resources in this guide were chosen from the following lists. We included links to online versions when available,
In his article "The Anti-Racist Reading List," (The Atlantic, 12 February 2019) Ibram X. Kendi, Professor of History and Director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research, recommends the following books to begin learning about anti-racism. Kendi organizes the readings by the categories below: Definitions; Reflection; Memoirs; Slavery, the North, and Reconstruction; Convict Leasing; Jim Crow; the Great Migration; Civil and Human Rights; Mass Incarceration; Police Violence, and Voting.
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by 
Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves by 
