Books about Race

A thoughtful response to Andy Griffith's death

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 16:33:36 -0500

A thoughtful response to Andy Griffith's death: fuckyeahfeminists: “Black and White in...

"The Twin Cities have the highest level of racial disparity in unemployment in the country, according..."

Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:09:56 -0500

“The Twin Cities have the highest level of racial disparity in unemployment in the country,...

"I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for black..."

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:10:24 -0500

“I maintain that every civil rights bill in this country was passed for white people, not for...

Racism in America: A Guide to Understanding Discrimination by...

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 15:54:55 -0500

Racism in America: A Guide to Understanding Discrimination

by Louis J. Palmer, Jr.

Racial discrimination, like its ethnic counterpart, will never be totally eliminated. This is necessarily so because discrimination is an inherent attribute of the human brain. This book provides an analysis of the cerebral origin of discrimination, along with its ancient manifestation as ethnic discrimination and its recent historical manifestation as racial discrimination in America. Ultimately this book seeks to demonstrate that, while the evils of racial discrimination are an inherent part of existence, it is a condition that can and should be controlled through laws and individual initiatives.

(Via Google Books)

read my paper about the n word if you haven't already

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 13:49:07 -0500

read my paper about the n word if you haven't already: Great paper on one person’s views on...

A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism...

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 07:57:03 -0500

A Defiant Life: Thurgood Marshall and the Persistence of Racism in America

By Howard Ball

Thurgood Marshall’s extraordinary contribution to civil rights and overcoming racism is more topical than ever, as the national debate on race and the overturning of affirmative action policies make headlines nationwide. Howard Ball, author of eighteen books on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, has done copious research for this incisive biography to present an authoritative portrait of Marshall the jurist. Born to a middle-class black family in “Jim Crow” Baltimore at the turn of the century, Marshall’s race informed his worldview from an early age. He was rejected by the University of Maryland Law School because of the color of his skin. He then attended Howard University’s Law School, where his racial consciousness was awakened by the brilliant lawyer and activist Charlie Houston. Marshall suddenly knew what he wanted to be: a civil rights lawyer, one of Houston’s “social engineers.” As the chief attorney for the NAACP, he developed the strategy for the legal challenge to racial discrimination. His soaring achievements and his lasting impact on the nation’s legal system—as the NAACP’s advocate, as a federal appeals court judge, as President Lyndon Johnson’s solicitor general, and finally as the first African American Supreme Court Justice—are symbolized by Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark case that ended legal segregation in public schools. Using race as the defining theme, Ball spotlights Marshall’s genius in working within the legal system to further his lifelong commitment to racial equality. With the help of numerous, previously unpublished sources, Ball presents a lucid account of Marshall’s illustrious career and his historic impact on American civil rights.

(From the Hardcover edition)

Face To Face: The Changing State Of Racism Across America By...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:14:00 -0500

Face To Face: The Changing State Of Racism Across America

By James Waller

Presents data to challenge the idea that racism is in decline, argues that prejudice is inherent in how the human mind works and in how people respond to each other, and recommends methods of reconciliation.

Freedom’s Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle Against Racism...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:12:00 -0500

Freedom’s Sword: The NAACP and the Struggle Against Racism in America, 1909-1969

By Gilbert Jonas

Freedom’s Sword is the first history to detail the remarkable, lasting achievements of the NAACP’s first sixty years. From its pivotal role in overturning the Jim Crow laws in the South to its twenty-year court campaign that culminated with Brown v. the Board of Education, the NAACP has been at the forefront of the struggle against American racism. Gilbert Jonas, a fifty-year veteran of the organization, tracks America’s political and social landscape period by period, as the NAACP grows to 400,000 members and is recognized by both blacks and whites as the leading force for social justice. Jonas recounts the historic combined efforts of ordinary citizens and black leaders such as W.E.B. Dubois, James Weldon Johnson, and Thurgood Marshall to root out white-only political primaries, separate schools, and segregated city buses. Freedom’s Sword is a vivid and passionately written account of the single most influential secular organization in black America.

(Via Google Books)

Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:59:59 -0500

Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said

How To Tell People They SOUND Racist

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:38:59 -0500

How To Tell People They SOUND Racist

The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel By Paul Beatty Paul...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:03:08 -0500

The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel

By Paul Beatty

Paul Beatty’s hilarious and scathing debut novel is about Gunnar Kaufman, an awkward, black surfer bum who is moved by his mother from Santa Monica to urban West Los Angeles. There, he begins to undergo a startling transformation from neighborhood outcast to basketball superstar, and eventually to reluctant messiah of a “divided, downtrodden people.”

(Via Amazon)

The Complex Identity: Understanding Intersections of Race and Sexuality

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:31:09 -0500

Our human identities are complex, and we find meaning in the differentiations of gender, sexuality,...

"One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we..."

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:16:52 -0500

““One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without...

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 06:56:41 -0500

Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America

By Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

In the third edition of his highly acclaimed book, Bonilla-Silva continues to challenge color-blind thinking. He has now extended this challenge with a new chapter on ObamaOs election addressing the apparent miracle of a black man elected as the 44th President of the nation despite the fact that racial progress has stagnated since the 1980s and, in some areas, even regressed. In contrasts to those who believe the election of President Obama is a watershed moment that signifies the beginning of a post-racial era in America, he suggests this development embodies the racial trends of the last 40 years including two he has addressed in this book: the rise of color-blind racism as the dominant racial ideology and the emergence of an apparently more flexible racial stratification system he characterizes as Latin America-like. Some material from previous editions, including ‘Answers to Questions from Concerned Readers,’ ‘What is to Be Done,’ and an Appendix detailing interview questions, is now available on the Rowman & Littlefield website through the Teaching/Learning Resources link.

(via Amazon)

Love Medicine is Louise Erdrich’s first novel, published in1984....

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:35:00 -0500

Love Medicine is Louise Erdrich’s first novel, published in1984. Erdrich revised and expanded the novel for an edition issued in 1993, and this version was considered the definitive edition until 2009 when Erdrich re-edited it.Erdrich explores 60 years in the lives of a small group of Chippewa (akaOjibwa orAnishinaabe) living on theTurtle Mountain Indian Reservation inNorth Dakota.

Each chapter is narrated by a different character. These narratives are conversational, as if the narrators were telling a story, often from thefirst-personperspective. There are, however, five chapters that are told from a limitedthird-personperspective. The narratives follow a loose chronology aside from the first chapter (set in 1981). The conversational tone of the novel is representative of the storytelling tradition in Native American culture. It draws from Ojibwa myths, story-telling technique, and culture. It also incorporates the Euro-Indian experience, especially through the younger generations, some of whom have been forced by government policy to accept, if not possess, Euro-American culture.

Love Medicine begins with June Morrisey freezing to death on her way home to the reservation. Although she dies at the beginning, the figure of June holds the novel together. Similarly, a love triangle among Lulu, Marie, and Nector is a link among the narratives, even though it is not a persistent theme in the novel. There is also a homecoming (or homing) theme in the novel. The use of multiple themes adds to the storytelling effect of the work. Other themes include: tricksters (in the Native American tradition), abandonment, connection to land, searching for identity and self-knowledge, and survival.

(Via Wikipedia)

Colorlines: An American magazine that covers race and politics in society

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:29:00 -0500

Colorlines: An American magazine that covers race and politics in society: Articles are primarily...

"I swear to the Lord, I still can’t see, why Democracy means, everybody but me."

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:26:54 -0500

“I swear to the Lord, I still can’t see, why Democracy means, everybody but me.” -...

A GREAT book by legal scholar and civil rights advocate Michelle...

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:21:29 -0500

A GREAT book by legal scholar and civil rights advocate Michelle Alexander argues that although Jim Crow laws have been eliminated, the racial caste system it set up was not eradicated. Its simply been redesigned, and now racial control functions through the criminal justice system.

White like me: reflections on race from a privileged son By Tim...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:00:09 -0500

White like me: reflections on race from a privileged son

By Tim J. Wise

Racial privilege shapes the lives of white Americans in every facet of life, from employment and education to housing and criminal justice. Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise shows that racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits those who are “white like him” — whether or not they’re actively racist. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a compelling narrative that assesses the magnitude of racial privilege and is at once readable and scholarly, analytical yet accessible.

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:57:06 -0500

Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High

By Melba Pattillo Beals

In 1957, Melba Pattillo turned sixteen. That was also the year she became a warrior on the front lines of a civil rights firestorm. Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board of Education,Melba was one of nine teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School.

Throughout her harrowing ordeal, Melba was taunted by her schoolmates and their parents, threatened by a lynch mob’s rope, attacked with lighted sticks of dynamite, and injured by acid sprayed in her eyes. But through it all, she acted with dignity and courage, and refused to back down.

This is her remarkable story.