Quiz: Which Antiracist Book Should You Read Next?

This brilliant book of essays about disability justice centers the voices, experiences, and work of queer and trans disabled people of color. Piepzna-Samarasinha is warm, open, angry, and personal. She shares vulnerable stories about her life, the art and activist communities she’s been a part of, the importance of access, and the transformative power of disability justice. All anti-oppression work is interconnected. This book makes clear that antiracist work must also center disability justice.

In these lyrical essays, poet Cathy Park Hong examines the complexity and multiplicity of Asian American experiences. She writes about growing up the daughter of Korean immigrations, the “model minority” myth, art and writing, and a whole lot more. It’s a rigorous and challenging book about race, violence, power, and history.

In this slim volume, activist Mariame Kaba provides a concise and practical introduction to prison abolition. She explores what a world without police would look like, examining models of community care, transformative justice, and true accountability. It’s a powerful book about the possibilities in organizing itself, as well as an invaluable tool for anyone looking to get more involved with the prison abolition movement.

Though slim (the actual text is only 160 pages), this book lays bare the history of American racism with chilling clarity. By examining a series of historical events (Reconstruction, desegregation, the Voting Rights Act) Anderson proves how, after every instance of Black progress, white supremacy rears its ugly head, and white people in power do everything they can to stop that progress. Anderson is a scholar and a historian; this book is meticulously researched and beautifully organized.

In this moving and vulnerable memoir, Cullors writes about the familial and community toll of police violence and mass incarceration, her coming-of-age as an activist, queer identity, the founding of Black Lives Matter, and more. It’s a deeply personal book about the beginning of a global movement.

This book of essays is worth coming back to again and again. Cottom writes about Black womanhood, capitalism, beauty, academia, and a whole lot more. Both her writing and her thinking are so rich and multi-layered. If you’re ready to think about race and its impact on everything from language to education to dating in new ways — and then do something about it — then this is the book for you.

This is a character-driven small town mystery about a Moroccan immigrant and restaurant owner who’s killed by a hit-and-run in a California desert town. The fast-paced story is told from multiple POVs. It’s a moving story about the ways that race and racism permeate everything in America, whether we’re conscious of it or not. It’s not a nonfiction antiracist bestseller, but it will leave you with a lot to think about.

This epic novel follows the descendants of two Ghanaian sisters over 300 years. One is sold into slavery in America, and the other marries a European man and remains in Ghana. It’s a sweeping history that illuminates some of the roots of American racism. If you’re looking to understand where we came from and where we are now, and you’re ready to get fired up about change, this is the book for you.

You should read How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang. This historical novel is about two Chinese American siblings who set out on a quest to bury their father in the post-Gold Rush American West. Through the lives of her characters, Zhang explores the forces that shaped America head on: colonization, genocide, land theft, racism, immigration. It’s a lyrical novel that will get under your skin. It will also change the way you think about history, its impact on the present, and our role in building a different future.

It’s easy to get burned out and exhausted, especially if you’ve been doing antiracist work for a long time, and even more especially if you’re dealing with the daily traumas of being a person of color in a racist country. This satirical play is a hilarious and sharply observant critique of white feminism, well-meaning liberals, and performative activism. A group of white teachers are tasked with creating a “politically correct” Thanksgiving pageant, so they call in a a Native American actor to help. It just gets steadily more cringey from there. Yes, it’ll make you laugh, but underneath the humor, it has a serious antiracist message.

This is a beautiful multigenerational epic about two powerful Black families in Harlem in the 1990s and today. The Melancons have always made a living selling their caul, a protective layer of skin with magical healing properties. When they refuse to sell the caul to a pregnant Black woman, the fates of the two families become intertwined. It’s a powerful book about Black womanhood and feminism, reproductive justice, gentrification, generational trauma, and the intersections of race, class, and gender.