This is a time for listening, yes, but it is also a time for doing. But remember, what doing looks like for you could look vastly different from someone else. Movements are made of lots of individual roles, and you, like many of us, will need to find your part to play. And that requires a deeper understanding of the world around you. We believe that voices and texts are powerful ways of gaining that, and have assembled a list of some books that we think can help us understand.
This list is, by no means, comprehensive. It contains both fiction and non-fiction, poetry and academic work, books for adults and young readers. Since so many of our authors are African, and part of our mission at Catalyst is to amplify those voices, you’ll also find several books by African authors, many of which were written to speak to times, conditions, and politics that, in many ways, mirror our own. There are books here that speak to the whys and hows of how we got to this moment in time, but there are also some that celebrate Black history and activism, or simply just Black lives— important things to remember and hold on to right now. We will be periodically adding to this list.
If you want to extend your reading into other action, we have also included a list of resources and organizations who are fighting against racism, against police brutality and state violence, and for Black lives. We’ve all been moved to speak, but now we have to be moved to action, and we include ourselves in that call. We’re going to continue doing the work that we need to do here at Catalyst to make sure that justice, empathy, and equity aren’t just our words, but our actions.
If you purchase any of the books here, please consider doing so through Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores, or through your favorite bookstore or publisher’s website. If you need suggestions, here’s a list of independent Black bookstores you can support.
Non-fiction
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
To Be Young Gifted and Black: Lorraine Hansberry in Her Own Words by Lorraine Hansberry
Invisible Man Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man’s Education by Mychal Denzel Smith
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni Morrison
Thin Blue: The Unwritten Rules of South African Policing by Jonny Steinberg
I Write What I Like: Selected Writings by Steve Biko
Street Blues: The Experiences of a Reluctant Policeman by Andrew Brown
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland by
Across Boundaries by Mamphela Ramphele
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula Giddings
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Fiction
Unmaking Grace by Barbara Boswell
The Zulus of New York by Zakes Mda
When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head
Thirteen Cents by K. Sello Duiker
The Lion’s Binding Oath by Ahmed Ismail Yusuf
A Dry White Season by Andre Brink
July’s People by Nadine Gordimer
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Poetry
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Kalakuta Republic by Chris Abani
Anthology
The New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent ed Margaret Busby
For Young Readers
African by Peter Tosh and Rachel Moss
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
This Thing Called the Future by JL Powers
The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson
The Lolo Series by Niki Daly
Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o and Vashti Harrison
Brave. Black. First.: 50+ African American Women Who Changed the World by : A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, and Ann Hazzard, Illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin
March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and illustrated and lettered by Nate Powell
Online Reading/Listening
The 1619 Project from the New York Times
“Policing inequality and the inequality of policing: A look at the militarisation of policing around the world, focusing on Brazil and South Africa” by Ziyanda Stuurman
“What to do if you can’t protest on the streets for Black Lives Matter” by Melz (gal-dem Magazine)
“The Epidemic of Thinking There’s Only One African Writer” by Yewande Omotoso (LitHub)
“The Cruelty is the Point” by Adam Serwer (Atlantic Magazine)
Ruth Wilson Gilmore on Covid-19, Decarceration, and Abolition (Haymarket Books)
Uprooting Whiteness [Supremacy & Domination] – Resources compiled by William R. Frey (includes links to several organizations in need of donations)
An open letter from African writers: #BlackLivesMatter
Get Involved/Donate
Color of Change
Equal Justice Initiative
Reclaim the Block
Black Visions Collective
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
#SayHerName
And, finally, in addition to racial justice resources, this list from the African American Policy Forum contains links/resources to health-related mutual-aid funds and organizations, prioritizing not just COVID-19 related resources, but mental health and self-care.
