Antiracist Readings
Books to help people understand the adverse affects that racism has on life.
Mules and Men - Abridged
By Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by Ruby Dee / 2 hours 57 minutes
"Simply the most exciting book on black folklore and culture I have ever read." --Roger D. Abrahams
Mules and Men is the first great collection of black America's folk world. In the 1930's, Zora Neale Hurston returned to her "native village" of Eatonville, Florida to record the oral histories, sermons and songs, dating back to the time of... Read more »
The Book of Rosy
A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border
By Rosayra Pablo Cruz & Julie Schwietert Collazo
Narrated by Almarie Guerra & Jayme Mattler / 6 hours 24 minutes
“Offers hope in the face of desperate odds” – ELLE Magazine, ELLE’s Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2020
“[D]isturbing and unforgettable memoir…This wrenching story brings to vivid life the plight of the many families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.” – Publisher’s Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
“[The] haunting and eloquent…narrative of a Guatemalan... Read more »
We Were Eight Years in Power
An American Tragedy
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by Beresford Bennett / 13 hours 37 minutes
In this “urgently relevant”* collection featuring the landmark essay “The Case for Reparations,” the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me “reflects on race, Barack Obama’s presidency and its jarring aftermath”*—including the election of Donald Trump.
New York Times Bestseller • Finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book... Read more »
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The Color of Law
A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
By Richard Rothstein
Narrated by Adam Grupper / 9 hours 32 minutes
In this groundbreaking history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein, a leading authority on housing policy, explodes the myth that America's cities came to be racially divided through de facto segregation-that is, through individual prejudices, income differences, or the actions of private institutions like banks and real estate... Read more »
Policing the Black Man
Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment
By Angela J. Davis, Angela J. Davis & Angela J. Davis
Narrated by Robin Miles & Kevin Kenerly / 10 hours 11 minutes
A comprehensive analysis of the key issues of the Black Lives Matter movement, this thought-provoking and compelling anthology features essays by some of the nation’s most influential and respected criminal justice experts and legal scholars.
Contributing authors include Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative, NYU Law... Read more »
Heads of the Colored People
Stories
By Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Narrated by Adenrele Ojo / 6 hours 13 minutes
A stunning new talent in literary fiction, Nafissa Thompson-Spires grapples with black identity and the contemporary middle class in these compelling, boundary-pushing vignettes. Each captivating story plunges headfirst into the lives of new, utterly original characters. Some are darkly humorous—from two mothers exchanging snide remarks through... Read more »
The Myth of Race
The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea
By Robert Wald Sussman
Narrated by David Colacci / 15 hours 26 minutes
Although eugenics is now widely discredited, some groups and individuals claim a new scientific basis for old racist assumptions. Pondering the continuing influence of racist research and thought, despite all evidence to the contrary, Robert Wald Sussman explains why—when it comes to race—too many people still mistake bigotry for science. Read more »
Training School for Negro Girls
By Camille Acker
Narrated by Bahni Turpin & Janina Edwards / 5 hours 42 minutes
This debut collection is a complicated love letter to Washington, DC, and to those who call it home: a TSA agent who's never flown, a girl braving new worlds to play piano, and a teacher caught up in a mayoral race. These characters navigate life's "training school"-with lessons on gentrification and respectability-and fight to create their own... Read more »
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by Ruby Dee / 6 hours 44 minutes
“A deeply soulful novel that comprehends love and cruelty, and separates the big people from the small of heart, without ever losing sympathy for those unfortunates who don’t know how to live properly.” —Zadie Smith
One of the most important and enduring books of the twentieth century, Their Eyes Were Watching God brings to life a Southern love... Read more »
Chokehold
Policing Black Men
By Paul Butler
Narrated by JD Jackson / 8 hours 53 minutes
Nominated for the 49th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Nonfiction)
A 2017 Washington Post Notable Book
A Kirkus Best Book of 2017
“Butler has hit his stride. This is a meditation, a sonnet, a legal brief, a poetry slam and a dissertation that represents the full bloom of his early thesis: The justice system does not work for... Read more »
The Hate U Give
By Angie Thomas
Narrated by Bahni Turpin / 11 hours 40 minutes
The Hate U Give
“This bestselling, powerful young adult novel about social justice and one teen girl's effort to fight for what is right, will leave you breathless. The narration by Bahni Turpin is hands down the best I've ever heard. This is such an important book it should be required reading for life in general. Or listening. Definitely listening.”
Kristen, Tattered Cover
On the Come Up
By Angie Thomas
Narrated by Bahni Turpin / 11 hours 42 minutes
2020 Audie Awards® Finalist - Young Adult
#1 New York Times bestseller · Seven starred reviews · Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book
Don't miss this audiobook, Audible's Young Adult Audiobook of the Year and an Audie Award finalist!
“For all the struggle in this book, Thomas rarely misses a step as a writer. Thomas continues to hold up that... Read more »
Black Enough
By Ibi Zoboi, Tracey Baptiste, Coleen Booth, Dhonielle Clayton, Brandy Colbert, Jay Coles, Lamar Giles, Leah Henderson, Justina Ireland, Varian Johnson, Kekla Magoon, Tochi Onyebuchi, Jason Reynolds, Nic Stone, Liara Tamani, Renée Watson & Rita Williams-Garcia
Narrated by Bahni Turpin & Ron Butler / 11 hours 14 minutes
Edited by National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi, and featuring some of the most acclaimed bestselling Black authors writing for teens today—Black Enough is an essential collection of captivating stories about what it’s like to be young and Black in America. A selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List.
Black is...sisters... Read more »
I Am Enough
By Grace Byers
Narrated by Grace Byers / 3 minutes
I Am Enough is the audio edition of the New York Times bestseller everyone needs!
This is a gorgeous, lyrical ode to loving who you are, respecting others, and being kind to one another, from Empire actor and activist Grace Byers.
Perfect for mothers and daughters, baby showers, and graduation.
We are all here for a purpose. We are more than... Read more »
I Believe I Can
By Grace Byers
Narrated by Grace Byers / 3 minutes
From the New York Times bestselling creator of I Am Enough comes an empowering follow-up that celebrates every child’s limitless potential.
Don't miss this audiobook edition, read by the author, Grace Byers!
I Believe I Can is an affirmation for boys and girls of every background to love and believe in themselves, from actress and activist Grace... Read more »
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou
Narrated by Maya Angelou / 10 hours 10 minutes
Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.
Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute... Read more »
The Bluest Eye
By Toni Morrison
Narrated by Toni Morrison / 7 hours 5 minutes
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature.
It is the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove--a black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others--who prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so... Read more »
Red at the Bone
A Novel
By Jacqueline Woodson
Narrated by Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small & Bahni Turpin / 3 hours 52 minutes
Red at the Bone
“Jacqueline Woodon's novella RED AT THE BONE is the story of a black American family told through the perspective of 5 people. Vastly different perspectives of the same events (a teenage pregnancy, prejudice, class issues between generations) creates a compelling audiobook. Listening to this book was a delight, as the 5 narrators truly made it a beautiful production. I've never experienced a story like this and was spellbound. Highly recommend.”
Rachel, Avid Bookshop
Brown Girl Dreaming
By Jacqueline Woodson
Narrated by Jacqueline Woodson / 3 hours 54 minutes
A New York Times bestseller and National Book Award winner
Jacqueline Woodson, the acclaimed author of Another Brooklyn, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.
Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African... Read more »
And Still I Rise
A Book of Poems
By Maya Angelou
Narrated by Maya Angelou / 22 minutes
Maya Angelou’s unforgettable collection of poetry lends its name to the documentary film about her life, And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my... Read more »