Keep moving forward on your Racial Justice Journey
Below you will find resources arranged by topic and learning style: Listen (podcasts), Watch (online videos, documentaries, films), or Read (books, articles). We challenge you to take your next step!
If you can’t fly, then run; if you can’t run, then walk; if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.
— Martin Luther King Jr., Baptist minister, civil rights activist
LOCAL HISTORY
Read
- A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota by Sun Yung Shin
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask. – St. Paul Minnesota Historical Society Press – Anton Treuer
- Smaller, and Smaller, and Smaller. By Marlon James –
- Blues Vision: African American writing from Minnesota – Edited by Alexs Pate, Pamela Fletcher , and J. Otis Powell
- Thousand Star Hotel – Bao Phi (Poetry)
- 2018 Dakota Riders and Runners
US HISTORY
Listen
- Made in America (Seeing White Part 3)
- An Interview with “The Brown’s” in the landmark case of Brown vs. Board of Education
Read
- The Santification – and Sanitization – of Martin Luther King Jr. by P.R. Lockhart
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehesi Coates
- Slavery by Another Name – Douglas A. Blackmon
Watch
- A Five Minute History of Race in the US
- Race: The Power of an Illusion Documentary Series
- The Untold Story of American’s Southern Chinese
WHITENESS
Read
- Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
- Ask a White Person – A website devoted to white people answering other white people’s questions about race
- Be Less Racist: 12 Tips for White Dudes by a White Dude
- White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard to Talk to White People About Racism
PARENTING RACIALLY-CONSCIOUS CHILDREN
Read
- Raising Race Conscious Children
- An Age by Age Guide on how to talk to kids about racism
- How silence can breed prejudice: A child development professor explains how and why to talk to kids about race
- It’s My Job to Raise Children Who Are Not Only Not Racist But Actively Anti-Racist
- The Hard Talk: White Parents Discussing Racism with White Children
- 5 Ways Parents Pass Down Prejudice and Racism
FOR CHILDREN
Read
- Let’s Talk About Race – Julius Lester
- Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan
- The Colors of Us – Karen Katz [Ages 6-8]
- Shades of People by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly [Ages 2-6]
- Black is Brown is Tan by Arnold Adoff [Ages 2-4]
- My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits [Ages 4-6]
Read
- I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley [Ages 3-8]
- Whoever You Are by Mem Fox [Ages 3-8]
- Almond Cookies & Dragon Well Tea by Cynthia Chin-Lee [Ages 4-8]
- Books about Black Fatherhood
- Like Me Like You Kids (Toys and books for kids)
EDUCATION
Read
- School Discipline Disparities Report – Pdf
- School to Prison Pipeline Fact Sheet – Pdf
- State of Students of Color Report – 2016 – Pdf
- On a Mission for Girls of Color: Inequality at School
- Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen
- Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience – David Wallace Adams
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? – Beverly Tatum
Watch
- Teach Us All Documentary (Available on Netflix) – Trailer
- How Students of Color Confront Imposter Syndrome
- College or Prison?
- A Conversation About Growing Up Black
Dialogue on Race
Indigenous Perspectives
Read
- Police Brutality and Native Americans
- Creating better Indigenous Allies
- An Indigenous People’s History of the United States – Roxanne Dunbar-Oritz
- Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota – Bruce M. White and Gwen Westerman (Local)
- North County; The Making of Minnesota – Mary Lethert Wingerd (Local)
Black / African American Perspectives
Read
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nahisi Coates
- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color – Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua
- The Souls of Black Folk – W.E.B Dubois
Watch
- 13th (Available on Netflix)
Asian American Perspectives
Read
- Yellow – Race in America Beyond Black or White
- Making of Asian America – Erika Lee
- Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience
- Southeast Asian Children: Not the “Model Minority”
Latinx Perspectives
Read
- Latino Americans: The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation – Ray Suarez
- Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the Unites States, English/Spanish Edition (Poetry) (kid-friendly)
Intersections of Race and Other Identities
Watch
- A Conversation with Black Women on Race
- The Urgency of Intersectionality
Justice System
Read
- Injustice in the Justice System for Girls of Color
- The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander
Watch
- 13th – Directed by Ava DuVernay (available on Netflix)
- We Need to Talk About An Injustice – Bryan Stevenson
Immigration
Read
- Americanah – Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie
- The Book of Unknown Americans – Cristina Henriquez
- Foreign Soil – Maxine Beneba Clarke
Refugee Experience
Read
- Poem: “Home” by Warsan Shire
- Humans of New York – Refugee Series
Workplace
Listen
- Why do employers struggle to keep employees of color? (MPR segment)
Policing
Read
- Black women and police brutality
- Police Brutality and Native Americans
- The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
- Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehesi Coates
Give a little today, to make a big impact tomorrow.
Support the YWCA Mankato in their efforts to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
GET INVOLVED
Becomeg part of the YWCA Mankato to inspire the next generation of leaders through one of our programs!
