19 Must Read Books and 3 Must Watch Documentaries To Understand

If nothing else, I hope that last post helped stir up a sense of empathy and understanding for the depth of the divide in our country. Perhaps it also made you realize that the version of American history you've been given is not only incomplete, but perhaps deceptively Whitewashed.  

So how do you start to undo that? There isn't a simple article to read or movie to watch, just as your understanding of White American history didn't come from a quick read, understanding the nuance of race in America won't be quick either. But if you want to start digging in, here's your chance. Because ignorance isn't helpful to anyone; we owe it to those who have been marginalized for centuries to do some work so we can make some change.

These books are the 19 that have been most formative for me. Some eye opening, some infuriating, some energizing; but they all have served a vital role in where I am today. If you prefer book club style reading, I lead book studies through a group on Facebook called Be the Bridge to Racial Unity that you are welcome to request to join and hang with me on Facebook live discussing this goodness.

Amazon links are not affiliated.

Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Divided by Faith by Christian Smith and Michael Emerson

Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together at the Cafeteria Table?: A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity by Beverly Daniel Tatum

Trouble I’ve Seen by Drew Hart

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Let Justice Roll Down by Dr. John Perkins

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

Race, Real Estate, and Uneven Development by Kevin Fox Gotham

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Some of My Best Friends are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America by Tanner Colby

The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad

In Their Voices: Black Americans on Transracial Adoption by Rhonda M. Roorda

White Rage by Carol Anderson

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

The Shame of the Nation by Jonathon Kozol

America’s Original Sin by Jim Wallis

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward Baptist

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

And for some movies:

Race: The Power of an Illusion

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

13th (Available on Netflix)