Starting the Conversation: Adult Nonfiction

In our commitment to serve our community and foster the pursuit of knowledge, we offer these resources to help begin important conversations.

Showing 61 - 80 of 82  There are a total of 82 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The song and the silence"
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Description:
"'Have to keep that smile,' Booker Wright said in the 1966 NBC documentary Mississippi: A Self-Portrait. At the time, Wright spent his evenings waiting tables for whites at a local restaurant and his mornings running his own business. The ripple effect from his remarks would cement Booker as a civil rights icon because he did the unthinkable: before a national audience, Wright described what life truly was like for the black people of Greenwood, Mississippi"--Amazon.com....
Book cover for "Speaking of Race, Speaking of Sex"
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Book cover for "Stamped from the beginning"
Star rating for Stamped from the beginning
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
 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. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every...
Book cover for "Tears we cannot stop"
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Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Fifty years ago Malcolm X told a white woman who asked what she could do for the cause, 'Nothing.' Michael Eric Dyson believes he was wrong. Now he responds to that question. If society is to make real racial progress, people must face difficult truths, including being honest about how Black grievance has been ignored, dismissed, or discounted.
Book cover for "Tell me who you are"
Star rating for Tell me who you are
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Description:
"An eye-opening exploration of race in America In this deeply inspiring book, Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi recount their experiences talking to people from all walks of life about race and identity on a cross-country tour of America. Spurred by the realization that they had nearly completed high school without hearing any substantive discussion about racism in school, the two young women deferred college admission for a year to collect first-person...
Book cover for "They can't kill us all"
Star rating for They can't kill us all
Average Rating:
2.5 stars
Book cover for "They were her property"
Star rating for They were her property
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market. Because women typically inherited more slaves than land, enslaved people were often...
Book cover for "Trouble I've seen"
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Book cover for "Waking up white"
Star rating for Waking up white
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:

Debby Irving is an emerging voice in the national racial justice community. Combining her organization development skills, classroom teaching experience, and understanding of systemic racism, Irving educates and consults with individuals and organizations seeking to create racial equity at both the personal and institutional level. Irving grew up in Winchester, Massachusetts, during the socially turbulent 1960s and '70s. After a blissfully sheltered,

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Book cover for "The warmth of other suns"
Star rating for The warmth of other suns
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America.
Book cover for "We are not yet equal"
Star rating for We are not yet equal
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
A compelling and timely young adult adaptation of the NYTimes bestselling "White Rage," offers a compelling explanation of contemporary race relations by reframing major historical moments and cultural touchstones from the end of slavery to the War on Drugs to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Book cover for "We can't breathe"
Star rating for We can't breathe
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Asim disrupts what Toni Morrison [calls] the 'master narrative' and replaces it with a story of black survival and persistence through art and community in the face of centuries of racism. In eight ... essays, he explores such topics as the twisted legacy of jokes and falsehoods in black life; the importance of black fathers and community; the significance of black writers and stories; and the beauty and pain of the black body"--Front flap.
Book cover for "We gon' be alright"
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Author:
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"In his most recent book, Who We Be, Jeff Chang looked at how art and culture effected massive social changes in American society. Since the book was published, the country has been gripped by waves of racial discord, most notably the protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In these highly relevant, powerful essays, Chang examines some of the most contentious issues in the current discussion of race and inequality. Built around a central essay looking at...
Book cover for "Well-read black girl"
Star rating for Well-read black girl
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"Remember that moment when you first encountered a character who seemed to be written just for you? That feeling of belonging remains with readers the rest of their lives--but not everyone regularly sees themselves in the pages of a book. In this ... anthology, Glory Edim brings together original essays by ... black women writers to shine a light on how important it is that we all--regardless of gender, race, religion, or ability--have the opportunity...
Book cover for "What truth sounds like"
Star rating for What truth sounds like
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
Examines the events surrounding the 1963 meeting between Robert F. Kennedy and James Balwin in New York City, as well as its impact on race relations in the United States from then to now.
Book cover for "When they call you a terrorist"
Star rating for When they call you a terrorist
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Book cover for "Where do we go from here"
Star rating for Where do we go from here
Description:
African-American leader outlines his principles for nonviolent direct action in the struggle for civil rights in the United States today. "This is a book about power - specifically, the power of a nonviolent army of determined Negroes who, with a smaller band of committed whites, have concluded that equality is not given but is taken, and that nothing but relentless pressure will ever achieve full citizenship for America's Negroes. 'Power, properly...
Book cover for "White guilt"
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Book cover for "White rage"
Star rating for White rage
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Anderson posits that "since 1865 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, every time African Americans have made advances towards full participation in our democracy, white reaction has fueled a deliberate and relentless rollback of their gains ... Linking these and other historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson [believes that] actions made in the name...
Book cover for "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?"
Star rating for Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"Walk into any racially mixed high school and you will see Black, White, and Latino youth clustered in their own groups. Is this self-segregation a problem to address or a coping strategy? Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, argues that straight talk about our racial identities is essential if we are serious about enabling communication across racial and ethnic divides. These topics have only become more urgent...