Hoboken Library Staff Picks

The issues of race, privilege, and social justice have been brought to the forefront of national discourse recently especially as they relate to relationship between Black and White Americans. Here are a selection of the many ebooks available to our Hoboken Patrons looking to explore this important topic further. They are all available from eLibraryNJ, eBCCLS, and/or Hoopla.

So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo
In So You Want to Talk About Race, Oluo discusses a variety of topics including intersectionality and affirmative action and how issues of race permeate American society.

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
by Robin DiAngelo
DiAngelo’s New York Times bestseller examines how reactions about race when challenged can block an honest discussion of the topic and how this prevents change.

How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi is a National Book Award Winner.  In How to be an Antiracist he looks at how we can both understand and dismantle racism and inequalities.  It was called, “The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.” By the New York Times.  Also check out Stamped from the Beginning and the YA remix version Stamped-Racism, Antiracism, and You. You can read more about the book in a previous post where our staff chose their picks for best books of 2019.

The Origin of Others
by Toni Morrison
Best known as one of America’s most beloved fiction authors in The Origin of Others, Morrison, looks at topics that are prevalent in her work as well as society including race, fear, and a longing to be accepted. Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote a forward.

Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates, while reflecting on the topic as a father, looks at his own life and the history of the US and how it has led to our current situation, to look for a way to move forward in Between the World and Me. You can learn more in our Staff Post about our favorite recommendations from 2016.

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla F. Saad
Me and White Supremacy looks at how readers can work to examine their own privilege and to be more aware of the frequently unconscious impact they may have on others because of it.  

I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
by Austin Channing Brown
I’m Still Here details Austin Channing Brown’s experience of learning to appreciate herself as a black women growing up in a mostly white area.

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD
Biased looks at the ways the topic of race and bias are discussed and how institutions from schools to the criminal justice system can both build and exacerbate these issues.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Head of Information and Digital Services

Tags: Anti-Racism, Austin Channing Brown, Ibram X. Kendi, Ijeoma Oluo, Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Layla F. Saad, Robin DiAngelo, Social Justice, ta-nehisi coates, toni morrison