Resources for Anti-Racism
Our historical moment demands vigilance and action to dismantle institutional racism. It is not enough to declare our opposition to prejudice and discrimination; rather, we must resolve to break down racist institutions, assumptions, and obstacles wherever we see them. The classroom is a perfect place to do that. For too long, schools have been instruments of institutional racism. Unequal funding and access, discriminatory treatment, and segregation (whether de jure or de facto) have blocked African American, Latinx, and indigenous students from equal chances at quality education. Curricula and textbooks have either obscured or lied about histories of oppression, denying all of us the chance to confront our past and look to a better future.

Rather than allowing teaching to be a means of oppression, we must use it as a tool of social justice. What follows is a collection of resources intended for teachers and students to use in classrooms, but most of these resources would be helpful for anyone who wishes to learn more. This is a page very much in progress; I welcome any suggestions for items to add.

General Reading
To create and sustain anti-racist classrooms, we need to understand the history and extent of racism and inequality in this country. We could fill libraries with the books that address these topics, and I want to highlight a few here. The legacy of slavery has reached well into the American present, as it has become clear that slavery created fundamental inequalities that we as a society have never corrected. Isabel Wilkerson has explored fundamental shifts in the Black population in The Warmth of Other Suns and, more recently, the concept of caste as it applies to American society, where it creates fundamental social and economic inequity. Among the most important authors to confront the history of institutional racism is Ta Nehisi Coates, whose work has pointed to the historical roots of unequal access to land and wealth and the contemporary consequences of that past. Ibram X. Kendi has added to this conversation with a historical examination of the idea of race in America as well as a contemporary guide to anti-racism. Douglas Blackmon and Michelle Alexander examine the impact of mass incarceration of black men under both the original Jim Crow system and what Alexander calls "The New Jim Crow."  Richard Rothstein explores the long-term consequences of housing discrimination (much as Coates did in his article on reparations). Because the accumulation of wealth is generational, these policies reverberate over time, even after they have been formally outlawed. And as Robin DiAngelo and Ijeoma Oluo make clear, white Americans' discomfort with discussing race and confronting racism has contributed to the problem, but we still need to have these conversations. Teachers need to be aware of this context especially as they confront racial dynamics, tensions, and discrimination in their own schools, as Christopher Emdin and Beverly Daniel Tatum argue. And don't forget important correctives to standard textbook narratives by historians like James W. Loewen and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. Looking for even more to read? These lists of suggestions might be helpful.


Literature to Start a Conversation
Literature can often reveal profound truths that even the best works of history cannot. In this case, we should draw upon the literary and cultural legacy of race and inequality as we explore ways to create an anti-racist society. It's time to turn back to classic works by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Nella Larsen, Toni Morrison, and Alice Walker to uncover the human impact of racism. We can also pick up more recent literature by Ta Nehisi Coates, Colson Whitehead, Tayari Jones, Yaa Gyasi, Ben H. Winters, Octavia Butler, Brit Bennett, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, and Esi Edugyan. Whether through poetry, essays, magical realism, science fiction, historical fiction, or other genres, literature raises troubling questions and exposes the heartbreaking and frustrating realities of racism in American culture. Moreover, they bring into sharp relief the people who struggled and confronted social, economic, and political forces that were often beyond their control. But just as importantly, they depict these characters as multi-dimensional: not passive victims but resourceful, powerful, and thoughtful individuals with virtues and flaws, who claim agency in determining the course of their lives.


Books for Kids and Teens
Racism starts when kids are young, but that means anti-racism can start young, too. Most importantly, it's important to teach kids to engage in frank conversation about race and not to shy away from talking about inequality, obstacles, white privilege, and prejudice. Most of all, it's important to teach kids to listen. Anti-racist children's literature can not only teach the value of pluralism and diversity, but it also compels readers to recognize differences in life experiences, confront painful realities of bias and discrimination, and pay attention to what white privilege looks like and how it functions. Julius Lester has published highly regarded books for younger audiences, which take up contemporary and historical issues.  Jason Reynolds is among the most prolific and well-regarded anti-racist authors; his Track series and other books that take up themes of race and inequity are highly recommended. Realistic fiction like Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus, Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give and On the Come-Up (among others), and Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal's I'm Not Dying with You Tonight are outstanding for tweens and teens, as are Nic Stone's books, including Dear Martin, and Sharon M. Draper's work, including Stella by Starlight.

Kids can better face the problems of the present day if they can grasp the injustices of the past. Writers for children, like Julius Lester, have produced excellent and powerful histories. Veronica Chambers's Finish the Fight!, which takes a more inclusive look at women's struggle for voting rights, would appeal to tweens. Adaptations of historical scholarship for young readers are also available, like Erica Dunbar's Never Caught, about Ona Judge, who escaped from George and Martha Washington's household and remained free, although the threat of re-enslavement lingered. Dunbar also wrote She Came to Slay, a biography of Harriet Tubman, in a modified graphic format that might appeal to teens and adults. Kyle Baker's illustrated biography of Nat Turner is told in the style of a graphic novel for an audience of middle and high school students. Recently, Jason Reynolds teamed up with Ibram X. Kendi to publish Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, which offers historical perspectives on contemporary challenges, intended for young readers. By starting these conversations early, we can hope that the rising generation will confront racism more honestly and constructively.


Classroom Resources for Teachers
In-class Materials and Activities: Resources that are ready for use in your classroom, with your students
The Atlantic Slave Trade in Two Minutes
Slave Voyages.org
Freedom on the Move (a database of fugitive slave ads, Cornell University)
Susan Schulten, "Visualizing Slavery" (interactive map and accompanying article), New York Times, December 9, 2010
Ta Nehisi Coates, "What This Cruel War Was Over," The Atlantic, June 22, 2015 (a compendium of primary source excerpts that
     point to the southern argument for secession)
Visualizing Emancipation (University of Richmond)
"How Southern Socialites Rewrote Civil War History"
Adam Ruins Everything: The Disturbing History of the Suburbs         
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "The Danger of a Single Story"
Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America (University of Richmond)
Sarah Schwartz, "Fifteen Classroom Resources for Discussing Racism, Policing, and Protest," Education Week, June 2, 2020
Anti-Racist Education (lesson plans), Teaching Tolerance

Thinking about Teaching Techniques and Strategies: Sources to help you rethink how you confront racism in the classroom via pedagogy, presentation of content, and inclusion
65 Resources for Racial and Health Equity from Teach.com
Historians on the Confederate Monument Debate (American Historical Association): Includes teaching resources and
     interviews and op-eds with and by historians about the current debates over the monuments in particular and race in
     American more broadly.
"Top Five Things White Teachers Can Do to Dismantle Racism," Tame the Classroom, June 2, 2020
Facing History and Ourselves (includes teaching and professional development resources)
Christopher Emdin, For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood ... And the Rest of Y'all, Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education (Beacon
    Press, 2017)
Bethany Jay and Cynthia Lynn Lyerly, Understanding and Teaching American Slavery (Wisconsin, 2016)
Hassan Kwame Jeffries, "Two Thumbs Up: Movies and Documentaries to Use (and Avoid) When Teaching Civil Rights"
Ibram X. Kendi, "The Difference between Being 'Not Racist' and Antiracist" (TED Talk)
Michael Landis, "A Proposal to Change the Words We Use when Talking about the Civil War," Smithsonian Magazine,
     September 9, 2015
Aaron Mak, "How Teachers are Rethinking the Way They Talk about Race in America," Slate, August 28, 2020
Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, "Three Ways to Improve Education about Slavery in the US," The Conversation, February 1,
     2019
Christopher Wilson, "We Legitimize the 'So-Called' Confederacy with Our Vocabulary, and That's a Problem," Smithsonian 
     Magazine, September 12, 2019
Jonathan Wilson, "How to Reframe the Civil War in the Classroom," Blue Book Diaries, June 5, 2020
Restorative Justice Colorado: This program seeks alternative means of discipline and conflict resolution in schools to improve
     attendance, engagement, and achievement while circumventing destructive behavior and the kinds of discipline that tend
     to amplify racial bias and inequity. The site includes resources for anti-racist teaching.
Talking about Race, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Teaching Hard History (SPLC)

Syllabi and Collections of Resources: Starting with the aftermath of the 2015 murders at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina, scholars, journalists, and other experts have contributed to crowdsourced "syllabi" that include primary and secondary sources intended for use in the classroom (or by anyone interested in learning more). Of course, collections on various topics have long been available, but recent crises have spawned several syllabi, which are not intended for specific courses (as you might think when you hear the word "syllabus"), but rather provide resources and information for informed teaching.
Reclaiming Native Truth: A Project to Dispel America's Myths and Misconceptions 
Standing Rock Syllabus
#Charleston Syllabus
Immigration Syllabus
Colored Conventions Project  
Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade
American Indians in Children's Literature
158 Resources to Understand Racism in America (Smithsonian Magazine)
Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus (JSTOR Daily)  
Race and Reckoning: Resources to Understand America's Long History of Injustice and Inequality (Washington Post)
Refusing to Forget
TeacherServe: Freedom's Story (National Endowment for the Humanities)
Teaching Hard History: American Slavery (Tolerance.org)
Teaching Tolerance
Gillian B. White, "How Did We Get Here? 163 Years of The Atlantic's Writing on Race and Racism in America"
Zinn Education Project