In the wake of the death of George Floyd which sparked massive ongoing protests across the nation and discussions about systemic racism in American society, the Pasadena Public Library released a list of books on race and social justice in America. The list includes authors like Maya Angelou, Malcom X, James Baldwin, Angela Davis and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
The list is compiled from suggestions from The New York Times, other public libraries, and Pasadena Public Library staff recommendations. The books are available from Pasadena Public Library — in print, eBook, audiobook or multiple formats.
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- I Am Not Your Negro written by James Baldwin [Documentary DVD]
- Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
- How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi
- Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
- The Central Park Five written and directed by Sarah Burns & David McMahon & Ken Burns [Documentary DVD]
- Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Just Mercy written by Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham [DVD based on the true story]
- Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
- An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (Fiction)
- Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman, Jr.
- Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves by Edim Glory
- Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
- Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob
- Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel Joseph
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
- When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele
- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon
- The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee
- Murder On a Sunday Morning a film by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade [Documentary DVD]
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
- Sister Ousider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
- They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
- Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock
- Beloved by Toni Morrison (Fiction)
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Fiction)
- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
- Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein
- Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
- The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect On America by Nikesh Shukla
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer
- America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privelege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis
- Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
- The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race edited by Jesmyn Ward
- The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with the assistance of Alex Haley
- A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
