To say it is an interesting time in history right now, would be a gross understatement. Last week in Minneapolis, a police officer kneeled on the neck of a black man named George Floyd for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, ultimately leading to his death.

Black Lives Matter is international human rights movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people that begain in 2013. Oh yeah, and the organization was founded by three women. #GirlPower

I attended a vigil yesterday to honor lives lost to police brutality and over 5000 showed up to pay their respect. I vow to use my voice for good. I believe black lives matter and I want my future children to love people of all colors, races, upbringings, etc.

That being said: it’s up to us to educate ourselves, unlearn systemic racism, learn how to be anti-racist and take all that knowledge to future generations. To help make that a little easier, I’ve compiled a list of books recommended to support the Black Lives Matter social movement:

1.         Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2.         The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander

3.         The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

4.         Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

5.         Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

6.         Barracoon: The Story of the ‘Last Black Cargo’ by Zora Neale Hurston

7.         Citizen by Claudia Rankine

8.         The Good Immigrant ed. Nikesh Shukla

9.         Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

10.       Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

11.       Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

12.       How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

13.       I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

14.       Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

15.       Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

16.       Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold

17.       Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

18.       Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

19.       So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

20.       The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

21.       The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

22.       The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

23.       Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

24.       This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherrie Moraga

25.       When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

26.       White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD

27.       Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

28.       A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

29.       The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern American by Anders Walker

30.       Becoming by Michelle Obama

31.       The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad

32.       A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki

33.       Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan M. Metzl

34.       Evicted by Matthew Desmond

35.       Nobody by Marc Lamont Hill

36.       Lies My Teacher Told Me By James W. Loewen

37.       Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD

38.       The AutoBiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley

39.       The Color of Law by Richard Rotherstein

40.       Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy by Darryl Pinckney

41.       Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

42.       Killing Rage Endling Racism by Bell Hooks

43.       Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts

I got these recommendations from various online sources and if you have more, please comment or get in contact with me! You can find more resources here.

 Thank you so much and please remember to be kind to one another!