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Anti-Racism

LITS resources on anti-racism

Books

The Readings on Anti-Racism Library Guide is a curated sampling of books in the Mount Holyoke Library collection that illuminate the complex issues and history of racism. If you would like to suggest titles to add to this guide, please feel free to send your suggestions to researchservices-g@mtholyoke.edu.  

"To build a nation of equal opportunity for everyone, we need to dismantle this spurious legacy of our common upbringing. One of the best ways to do this is by reading books... "

- Ibram X. Kendi
Author, How to be an Antiracist

"You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time."
         - John Lewis, 1940 - 2020
          American politician and civil-rights leader
         Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation, New York Times, July 30, 2020

Common Read Research Guides

Streaming Video

    

Kanopy "Day of Racial Healing" playlist

A selection of streaming films available for on-demand viewing through Kanopy.

 

 

 

   

Change the Subject (2019)

Change the Subject (2019) is a 54-minute documentary film about a group of Dartmouth students who challenged anti-immigrant language in the Library of Congress subject headings.

LITS Staff Book Suggestions

 

Caro from Research Services recommends Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar and Real Life by Brandon Taylor. These novels examine belonging and community in various contexts.

 

 

Ken in Administrative Computing recommends A Promised Land By Barack Obama. He's been listening to the audiobook (read by Obama) to supplement reading the book. 

 

Kim at the Circulation Desk is reading Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Tatum. After seeing the book regularly placed on reserve for classes, she picked it up. 

 

Beth in Research Services recommends Dark Testament and Other Poems by Pauli Murray. Despite the lack of recognition Murray often receives, Beth greatly admires the incredible work they did through their life as an activist, lawyer, and the first African-American woman ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church. 

 

Alex, the head of LITS, recommends The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Play Off the Knowledge Economy by Scott E. Page. The books shows how central the identity diversity of teams, especially of teams engaged in knowledge work, is to meet the complex challenges we face today

 

Emma at the Circulation Desk recommends Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. Despite being a short book, the novel reads like poetry and elegantly covers so many topics.

 

Julie in Research Services is reading Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon and highly recommends the book. 

 

Marie, the Director of Campus Technology and Media Services, recommends Weapons of Math Destruction: How Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil. She was excited to order the book through the Odyssey and can't wait to dig in. 

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