Compiled by Dr. Brock Bahler,
including suggestions from Dr. Keisha N. Blain, Dr. Waverly Duck,
Dr. Rachel Kranson, Dr. Clark Chilson, and Dr. Paula Kane:
Follow this link for a brief introduction to "Religion, Race, and Racism."
What can I do?
Global and national events can often make us feel powerless and paralyzed, especially when they are related to systemic issues of injustice. You’re not alone. But sometimes we do know of things we can do but are afraid of offending people, afraid of the cost, or afraid of making a mistake. But it’s better to make mistakes along the way than to live a lifetime in ignorance or be complicit through your inaction.
There are many anti-racism resources already available out there. Xavier Ramey has said that “the perpetuation of ignorance is another form of [racial] violence.” Many of us have been taught a white supremacist education—an education that implicitly assumed whiteness as normative and centered white European history and white European authors. Take a look at your bookshelf: how many Black and Brown authors are represented there? With the world at our fingertips, it is our responsibility to broaden and diversify our knowledge, to become more informed allies and advocates, and to amplify the voices of scholars and activists from traditionally marginalized communities.
The following material predominately centers Black and African-American voices and the problem of anti-Black racism. It is impossible to completely and exhaustively represent the scholarship and activism that exists, let alone adequately document the other many faces of white supremacy that oppress and marginalize Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and other subaltern voices.
As an academic department, these resources also lean heavily on educational and learning tools, but education is not enough. In fact, reducing racism to an epistemological category or an abstract concept to be grasped is a form of racial violence itself. And making a long list of resources is merely a performative gesture on its own. While educating ourselves is important, it has its limitations. If you are a beneficiary of white privilege, you might never comprehend the spiritual, psychological, and physical trauma that comes with being Black or Brown in America. However, we can bear witness to the suffering of others, actively listen to their stories, participate in protests, and advocate alongside them even if our knowledge is in part.
Links to Existing Resources, including Readings Lists and Practical Actions
- Trish Kahle, "Teaching in an Uprising: Readings on Race and Democracy”
- “The Anti-Racist Reading List: 38 books for those open to changing themselves, and their world” by Ibram X. Kendi
- The “#Charlestonsyllabus” developed in the aftermath of the Charleston African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting in 2015 by Dr. Chad Williams, Dr. Kidada Williams, and University of Pittsburgh’s Dr. Keisha N. Blain, through the African American Intellectual History Society and UGA Press
- “A Reading List to Understand Police Brutality in America”
- Keisha N. Blain, “Eight Recommended Books by Women to Understand the Uprisings”
- Project Muse, “Confronting Structural Racism” (list of academic texts currently freely available)
- A Google Doc of Anti-Racism resources including books to read, podcasts to listen to, and films to watch compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein
- “40 Essential Books for any Black Church Syllabus”
- An extensive list of academic texts on racism and white supremacy
- “Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus”
- “75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice” by Corinne Shutack
- “A Year of Anti-Racism Work” compiled by Dr. Michelle Panchuk
- Kesiena Boom, “100 Ways White People Can Make Life Less Frustrating for People of Color”
- “White Homework” lessons by Tori Glass, including links to podcasts by BIPOC scholars and activists
- Academics for Black Survival and Wellness
Op-Eds / News Articles
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations” June 2014, The Atlantic
- Jelani Cobb, “Terrorism in Charleston,” June 2015, The New Yorker
- Heather Cox Richardson, “Reconstructing the American Tradition of Domestic Terrorism,” June 2015, Werehistory.org
- Libby Nelson, “The Confederate Flag Symbolizes White Supremacy–and it Always Has,” June 2015, Vox
- Nell Irvin Painter, “What is Whiteness?,” June 2015, New York Times
- John Metta, “I, Racist” July 2015, Medium
- George Yancy, “Dear White America,” Dec 2015 NY Times
- Bryan W. Van Norden, “Western Philosophy is Racist,” Oct 2017, Aeon
- Robin DiAngelo, “White People are Being Raised to be Racially Illiterate,” Sept 2018 NBC
- Michelle Norris, “So You Want to Talk About Lynching?” Oct 2019, Washington Post
- Malcolm Brian Foley, “Lynching preachers: How black pastors resisted Jim Crow and white pastors incited racial violence” Feb 2020, The Conversation
- Michael Harriot, “A Timeline of Events that Led to the Fed-Up Uprising,” May 2020, The Root
Black History & Black Experience
- Franklin & Higgenbotham, From Slavery to Freedom
- Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross, A Black Women’s History of the United States
- C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins: Touissaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
- Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
- W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk
Christianity, Racism, & the Construction of Race
- Willie James Jennings, The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
- Rebecca Anne Goetz, The Baptism of Early Virginia: How Christianity Created Race
- Jemar Tisby, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism
- J. Cameron Carter, Race: A Theological Account
Slave Narratives & The Abolitionist Movement
- David Walker, An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
- Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
- Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
- Sojourner Truth. “Ain’t I A Woman?”
- Harriet A. Jacobs, “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”
The Black Church
- E. Franklin Frazier, The Negro Church in America & C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Church Since Frazier
- Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The ‘Invisible Institution’ in the Antebellum South
- Richard Newman, Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers
- Anthea D. Butler, Women in the Church of God in Christ: Making a Sanctified World
- Judith Weisenfeld, African American Women and Christian Activism
- Barbara Savage, Your Spirit Walks Besides Us: The Politics of Black Religion
- Bettye Collier-Thomas, Jesus, Jobs and Justice: African-American Women and Religion
- Barbara Holmes, Joy Unspeakable: Contemplative Practices of the Black Church
- Absalom Jones, “A Thanksgiving Sermon”
- Richard Allen, The Life, Experience, and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen
Black Liberation Theology
- James Cone, The Cross & the Lynching Tree
- Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited
- William R. Jones William R. Jones, Is God A White Racist?: A Preamble to Black Theology
- Cornel West & Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (eds), African-American Religious Thought: An Anthology
- Chanequa Walker Barnes, I Bring the Voices of My People: A Womanist Vision for Racial Reconciliation
- Eboni Marshall Turman, Toward a Womanist Ethic of Incarnation: Black Bodies, the Black Church, and the Council of Chalcedon
- Christena Cleveland, Christ Our Black Mother Speaks
- Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk
- Wil Gafney, Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne
Islam and African-American Thought
- Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- Carolyn Moxley Rouse, Engaged Surrender: African American Women and Islam
- Edward Curtis, Islam in Black America
- Ula Taylor, The Promise of Patriarchy: Women and the Nation of Islam
- Gibson and Karim, Women of the Nation: Between Black Protest and Sunni Islam
- Alia Al-Saji, “The Racialization of Muslim Veils”
Jewish Thought and Jews of Color
- David Goldenberg, The Curse of Ham: Race And Slavery In Early Judaism, Christianity, And Islam
- Edith Bruder, The Black Jews of Africa: History, Religion, and Identity
- Rabbi Sandra Lawson, “The Torah of the Blues”
- Bruce Haynes, The Soul of Judaism: Jews of African Descent in America
- Julius Lester, Lovesong: Becoming a Jew
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Religion and Race”
Asian Religions and Anti-Black Racism
- Yancy and McRae, eds., Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections
- Joseph Cheah, Race and Religion in American Buddhism: White Supremacy and Immigrant Adaptation
Black Womanist/Feminist Thought
- Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
- James & Sharpley-Whiting (eds), The Black Feminist Reader
- Katie Geneva Cannon, Katie’s Canon: Womanism and the Soul of the Black Community
- Patricia Hill Collins, Black Feminist Thought
- Monica Coleman (ed.), Ain’t I a Womanist Too? Third-Wave Religious Womanist Thought
- Kimberle Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”
- Emilie Townes, Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Care and A Womanist Ethic of Care
- Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, What Gender is Motherhood? Changing Yorùbá Ideals of Power, Procreation, and Identity in the Age of Modernity
- Bell Hooks, Feminism is for Everybody
Philosophy of Race/Critical Race Theory
- Naomi Zack, Philosophy of Race: An Introduction
- Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks
- Angela Davis, The Angela Davis Reader
- Charles Mills, The Racial Contract
- Kathryn Sophia Bell [Gines], Hannah Arendt and the Negro Question
- Helen Ngo, The Habits of Racism: A Phenomenology of Racism and Racialized Embodiment
- George Yancy, Black Bodies, White Gazes
- Crenshaw et al, Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement
Postcolonial/Decolonial Thought
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Decolonising the Mind
- Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House”
- Heinrichs, ed., Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization
- Huggan, ed, The Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Studies
Literary Works
- James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple
- Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Civil Rights/Activism
- Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can’t Wait (includes his must-read “Letter from Birmingham Jail”)
- James Cone, Black Theology and Black Power
- Maegan Parker Brooks, Fannie Lou Hamer: America’s Freedom Fighting Woman
- Keisha N. Blain (keisha.blain@pitt.edu), Set the World on Fire Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom
- Josh Bloom (joshuabloom@pitt.edu), Black against Empire: the History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
- Patrisse Khan-Cullors (co-founder of BLM), When They Call You a Terrorist
- Marc Dollinger, Black Power and Jewish Politics
- Joy James, Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender and Race in U.S. Culture
- Kelly Brown Douglas, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God
Systemic/Institutionalized Racism
- Anne Warfield Rawls & Waverly Duck, Tacit Racism
- Carol Anderson, White Rage
- Omi & Winant, Racial Formation in the United States (3rd Edition)
- Richard Rothstein, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
- Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Racism without Racists: Colorblind Racism and the Persistence of Racism in America
- Craig Steven Wilder, Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities
- James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong
Policing, Crime, and Mass Incarceration
- Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy
- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
- Andrea Ritchie, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color
- Katheryne Russell-Brown, The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions
- Waverly Duck (wod1@pitt.edu), No Way Out: Precarious Living in the Shadow of Poverty and Drug Dealing
Implicit/Unconscious Bias & Racism
- Kirwan Institute, Understanding Implicit Bias
- Jennifer Eberhardt, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice that Shapes What We See Think and Do
- Augustus White, Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care
- Michael Brownstein, The Implicit Mind: Cognitive Architecture, the Self, and Ethics
Whiteness & White Privilege
- Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism
- Shannon Sullivan, Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege
- Tim Wise, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
- Karen Brodkin, How Jews Became White Folks
- Austin Channing Brown, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Anti-Racism
- Ibram X. Kendi, How to be an Anti-Racist
- Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race
- Layla Saad, Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor and the connected workbook
Resources for Parents & Educators of Kids and Teenagers
- Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
- Jennifer Harvey, Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America
- Sharon Rush, Loving across the Color Line: A White Adoptive Mother Learns about Race
- Gullo, Capatosto, and Staats, Implicit Bias in Schools
- Katrina Michie, “Your Kids Aren't Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup”
- “37 Children’s Books to help talk about Racism & Discrimination”
- Charnaie Gordon, “Black Boy Joy: 30 Picture Books Featuring Black Male Protagonists”
- Charnaie Gordon, “Black Girl Magic: 33 Picture Books Featuring Black Female Protagonists”
Listen/Podcasts
- Ibram Kendi, “American Nightmare” (Vox)
- Keisha N. Blain, “The Rebellion in Defense of Black Lives is Rooted in U.S. History, So Too is Trump’s Authoritarian Rule” (Intercepted)
- Resmaa Menakem, “Notice the Rage; Notice the Silence” (On Being)
- John Lewis, “Love in Action” (On Being)
- Eula Biss, “Let’s Talk About Whiteness” (On Being)
- Scene on Radio Podcast
- Hope and Hard Pills Podcast
- Freedom Road
- Code Switch Podcast
Short Talks/Videos
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story”
- Kimberle Crenshaw, “The Urgency of Intersectionality”
- Bryan Stevenson, “We Need to Talk about Injustice”
- Philip Atiba Goff, “How We Can Make Racism a Solvable Problem and Improve Policing”
- “Segregated by Design”
Films & Documentaries
- 13th (Ava DuVernay) – Available on Netflix
- I Am Not Your Negro (James Baldwin documentary) – Available on Amazon Prime
- The Hate U Give (George Tillman Jr.)
- Selma (Ava DuVernay)
- The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
- Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee)
- Get Out (Jordan Peele)
Visit
- The August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
- National Museum of African American History & Culture (Washington DC)
- The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, AL)
- The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH)