BLACK HISTORY MONTH: THE ULTIMATE WATCH, READ, AND FOLLOW GUIDE

Feb 08, 2021Christian Iriotakis

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder last year, Americans—particulary white and white-passing Americans— temporarily changed what they read, what they watched, and how they shopped. Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow returned to the Amazon bestseller list 10 years after its publication, Malcolm X speeches circulated on social media, and many began actively seeking out Black businesses to support.

The problem is, research indicates that anti-racist reading, viewing, and support didn’t necessarily stick: An NPR poll found that only 30 percent of white people have taken it upon themselves to learn about race in America. Black, Hispanic, and Asian people far outpace them with 41, 51, and 49 percent more engagement, respectively.

No single time of year should prompt us to recommit to the work of educating ourselves on anti-racism, equity, and decolonization. Period. Whether it’s February or August, we should all be striving to combat systems of oppression (including the ones that exist inside of us).

As National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman said during the 2021 inauguration: “We are striving to forge a union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all culture, colors, characters, and conditions of man. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.”

Below, we’ve curated a list of books and movies to help you continue your anti-racist education, as well as Black-owned businesses to support. We hope this will be a resource for you and that you’ll seek other direct resources from Black activists and educators who are dedicating their lives to changing the racial landscape in America.

What to Read:

Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad
The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole
Check Your Privilege: Live into the Work by Myisha T. Hill, Cara Meredith, Jennifer Kinney, Jaime Blanco, Britney Stafford
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker