Not Your Average Summer Reading List:
A Resource Goody Bag to Aide the Journey of Unpacking/Unlearning Bias
A few tips:
Always start with Black stories written by Black Authors.
Give yourself grace. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, and make mistakes; that’s how we grow.
Don’t understand something? Try researching it first — loads of answers are just a Google search away.
If feelings of fragility rise within the self, work on trying to discover its source.
Before going to a Black person for help with your discomfort, try reaching out to a fellow accountability partner, refer to the DARVO method and lean into the pain of unlearning and reframing.
Our educations have been deficient. The below resources are tools to help you. to work through that. Remember, this isn’t to say one is racist but to instead challenge one to do the work necessary in becoming anti-racist.
BOOKS
*denotes Black author
**denotes POC author
This list is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction as a gift for open exploration.
LEVEL ONE: BEGINNER
Stamped From The Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi*— The National Book Award-winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society. Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America--it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo*— In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston — A classic.
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid — A contemporary look at how race influences how we relate to one another.
A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn — A challenging classic that strives to revolutionize the way American history is not only taught but remembered, told largely from the point of view of those whose plight has largely been omitted from American History.
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo — A book on why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism.
Becoming by Michelle Obama — Where have you been, where are you going, who are you becoming? A memoir from one of the greatest women to walk planet Earth.
More Than Enough by Elaine Weltroth — Claiming space for who you are no matter what they say.
LEVEL TWO: INTERMEDIATE
The Burning House by Anders Walker — Anders Walker demonstrates that racial segregation fostered not simply by terror and violence, but also by diversity, one of our most celebrated ideals.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander* — The New Jim Crow is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement.
The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad* — Chronicling the emergence of the deeply embedded notions of black people as a dangerous race of criminals by explicit contrast to working-class whites and European immigrants, Khalil Gibran Muhammad reveals the influence such ideas have had on urban development and social policies.
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde — what Audre said.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin — James Baldwin writing about his present, turns out it was our future.
Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan M. Metzel — How are the politics of racial resentment killing America’s Heartland?
A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki** — The raw truth of American history and an examination of the ultimate question of what it means to be an American.
How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi* — Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism fundamentally points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an antiracist society might look like — and how we can play an active role in building it.
Black Owned Bookstores to Buy From Instead of Amazon
Semicolon
Mahogany Books
Harriet’s Bookshop
Cafe con Libros
The Lit Bar
PODCASTS
Pod Save the People
NPR Code Switch
1619 (NYT)
About Race w/ Reni Eddo-Lodge
Intersectional Matters w/ Kimberle Crenshaw
Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
Pod For The Cause (Leadership Conf. on Civil & Human Rights)
Seeing White
Parenting Forward / Ep. 5 Five “Pandemic Parenting Lessons with Cindy Wang Brandt”
Fare of the Free Child Podcast
PLAYS
Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu
Notes from the Field and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith
ear for eye by debbie tucker green
An Octoroon by Brandon Jacob Jenkins
The Mountaintop by Katori Hall
The Canary and the Crow by Daniel Ward
Sweat by Lynn Nottage
A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson
What to Send Up When It Goes Down by Aleshea Harris
All the Natalie Portmans by CA Johnson
The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess
Ain’t No Mo’ by Jordan E. Cooper
Smart People by Lydia R. Diamond
Black Theater Companies to Support
Billie Holiday Theatre (Equity)
Black Revolutionary Theatre Workshop
Black Spectrum Theatre
Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY
The Classical Theatre of Harlem (Equity)
The Fire This Time Festival
Harlem 9
Harlem Repertory Theatre
Impact Repertory Theatre
Liberation Theatre Company
The Movement Theatre
National Black Theatre (Equity)
Negro Ensemble Company (Equity)
New Federal Theatre (Equity)
New Heritage Theatre Group (Equity)
New Professional Theatre
NuAfrikan Theatre
Paul Robeson Theatre at the African American Cultural Center
Rooted Theater Company
Shades of Truth Theatre
Ujima Company, Inc. aka Ujima Theatre Company
FILM
13th (Netflix)
When They See Us (Netflix)
If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)
I Am Not Your Negro (Amazon)
LA 92 (Netflix)
Dear White People (Netflix; both tv show & film)
Questions to Ask Yourself
Don’t be afraid to write these answers down to make it more tangible for yourself.
What did I learn today about the Black experience as it pertains to systemic racism?
What books, podcasts, documentaries, and/or movies do I plan to use to further understand systemic racism?
What resources or skill sets do I have at my disposal for dismantling white supremacy and racism?
What are three ways I can use these skills and resources directly in the theater community to dismantle white supremacy and racism?
Here’s Some More Help
source: Brittany Packnett Cunningham, activist
Anti-racism Resource Guide for White Led Organizations
Set an alarm on your phone or Google Calendar for October 11th and March 23rd. There’s nothing special about those dates — use them as a check in with yourself, your BIPOC friends, and acquaintances. Are you still doing the work? Where are you now? No pats on the back. Keep going.
Created and Compiled by Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew
BAC June 2020