List of Books on Cultural Awareness

The Color of Law : Richard Rothstein

Details how federal housing policies in the 1940s and '50s mandated segregation and undermined the ability of black families to own homes and build wealth.

Between the World and Me: Ta-Nehisi Coates

A book-length letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, Samori. In it, Coates explains to Samori what it means to be a black man in America. 

So You Want to Talk About Race: Ijeoma Oluo

Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to "model minorities" in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life. 

How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir: by Saeed Jones

In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas. In powerful poetry and prose, Saeed Jones recounts his experiences growing up as a young, black, gay man in rural Texas.

How To Be An Antiracist: A Memoir: by Ibram X. Kendi

Despite the nature of its title, Kendi has gifted us with a book that is not only an essential instruction manual but also a memoir of the author's own path from anti-black racism to anti-white racism and, finally, to antiracism.

Stamped from the Beginning: by Ibram X. Kendi

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti–Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history.

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mother’s Will to Survive: by Stephanie Land

In her unstinting memoir — a portrait of working-class poverty in America — Land scrapes by on $9 an hour cleaning houses to support herself and her young daughter.

No Visible Bruises: by Rachel Snyder

Snyder highlights an epidemic of unacknowledged violence. Fifty women a month are shot and killed by their partners, and she explores the problem from multiple perspectives: the victims, the aggressors and a society that turns a blind eye.

In The Dream House: by Carmen Maria Machado

This memoir, which tells the story of Machado’s abusive relationship with another woman, is an act of personal and formal bravery.