Libraries: Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Resources: General Resources

Books

Ain't I a Woman by bell hooks
Call Number: General E185.86 .H73 1992
ISBN: 089608129X
Publication Date: 1999-07-01
bell hooks examines the intersection of two key oppressive forces: sexism and racism. She explores the history and current effects of these oppressive forces on the lived experiences of black women.
American Hate: Survivors Speak Out by Sethi, Arjun Singh, editor.
ISBN: 1620973723
Publication Date: 2018-08-01
A collection of the personal stories of people targeted for hate crimes by racists, homophobes, misogynists, and the xenophobes in the U.S.
Black Marxism, Revised and Updated Third Edition by Cedric J. Robinson; Robin D. G. Kelley (Foreword by); Tiffany Willoughby-Herard (Preface by); Damien Sojoyner (Preface by)
ISBN: 1469663724
Publication Date: 2021-02-01
Cedric Robinson explores and critiques radicalism through a Black lens. Black radicalism, Robinson argues, must be linked to the traditions of Africa and the unique experiences of Blacks on Western continents, and any analyses of African American history need to acknowledge this. To illustrate his argument, Robinson traces the emergence of Marxist ideology in Europe, the resistance by Blacks in historically oppressive environments, and the influence of both of these traditions on such important twentieth-century Black radical thinkers as W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James, and Richard Wright.
Crip Theory by Robert McRuer; Michael Bérubé (Foreword by)
ISBN: 0814759866
Publication Date: 2006-06-01
Crip Theory attends to the contemporary cultures of disability and queerness that are coming out all over. Both disability studies and queer theory are centrally concerned with how bodies, pleasures, and identities are represented as "normal" or as abject, but Crip Theory is the first book to analyze thoroughly the ways in which these interdisciplinary fields inform each other.
Critical Race Theory (Third Edition) by Richard Delgado; Jean Stefancic; Angela Harris (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1479846368
Publication Date: 2017-03-07
This collection of essays provides an overview of Critical Race Theory and incorporates more recent events (prior to 2017) including the Black Lives Matter movement.
Feminism for The 99% by Nancy Fraser; Tithi Bhattacharya; Cinzia Arruzza
ISBN: 9781788734424
Publication Date: 2019-03-05
This book presents a manifesto that makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn't start--or stop--with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve. And that means targeting capitalism.
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: McNaughton E184.A1 K344 2019
ISBN: 0525509283
Publication Date: 2019-08-13
"The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it -- and then dismantle it." Ibram X. Kendi's concept of antiracism reenergizes and reshapes the conversation about racial justice in America. In this book, Kendi weaves an electrifying combination of ethics, history, law, and science, bringing it all together with an engaging personal narrative of his own awakening to antiracism. The book looks carefully at the racist policies and history of the United States.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; Cornel West (Introduction by)
ISBN: 1595588191
Publication Date: 2012-01-16
"As legal star Michelle Alexander reveals, today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination—employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service—are suddenly legal." - ProQuest Central
So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Call Number: General E184.A1 O454 2018
ISBN: 9781580056779
Publication Date: 2018-01-16
The publisher describes the book: "An actionable exploration of today's racial landscape, offering straightforward clarity that readers of all races need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide. Police brutality trials, white supremacist rallies, Black Lives Matter protests."
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: General E185.61 .K358 2016
ISBN: 9781568584638
Publication Date: 2016-04-12
Kendi's website describes the book: "In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and antiracists. From Puritan minister Cotton Mather to Thomas Jefferson, from fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis, Kendi shows how and why some of our leading proslavery and pro-civil rights thinkers have challenged or helped cement racist ideas in America."
Trans by Jack Halberstam
ISBN: 0520966104
Publication Date: 2017-09-01
In Trans*, Jack Halberstam explores the recent shifts in the meaning of the gendered body and representation, and explores the possibilities of a nongendered, gender-optional, or gender-queer future.
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo; Michael Eric Dyson (Foreword by)
Call Number: General HT1521 .D486 2018
ISBN: 9780807047415
Publication Date: 2018-06-26
Robin DiAngelo explores the concept of White Fragility. The back cover describes the book: "Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo explores how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively."

Websites

#BlackLivesMatter - founded by queer Black women in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Mart'ns murderer, BLM is an international organization whose mission is the elimination of white supremacy and building local power that combats violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

Showing UP for Racial Justice - Rochester, NY (SURJ ROC) - a local chapter of the national organization, SURJ, SURJ ROC supports the missions of People of Color-led racial justice groups in the Rochester area in their fight against oppression and inequality.

MPD 150 - a community based initiative challenging the narrative that police exist to protect and serve. Originating in Minneapolis, this group's work includes reports, findings, and resources helpful to all struggling for racial justice.

Critical Resistance - an abolitionist organization that seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe.

International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States - The U.N. Human Rights Council strongly condemned "the racially discriminatory and violent practices perpetuated by law enforcement agencies against Africans and people of African Descent" and commissioned an inquiry into racist police violence in the United States. This website reflects the investigation into this violence and includes first hand testimony of people affected by the violence.

The 1619 Project - A journalism project from the New York Times Magazine that presents an interactive set of essays, poems, virtual exhibits, and photographs with the goal of re-examining the history and legacy of slavery in the United States.

Databases

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938
This Library of Congress collection contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).

Black Life in America Series I and II
This database highlights the voices of black authors, activists, and artists where possible.

Digital Transgender Archive
The purpose of the Digital Transgender Archive (DTA) is to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world.

Diversity Studies
Scholarly journals and magazines that explore cultural differences, contributions, and influences in the global community.
Gender Studies Collection
Scholarly journals and magazines covering topics including gender studies, family and marital issues, and more.
HeinOnline Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
Materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Also includes hundreds of pamphlets and books written about slavery.

HeinOnline Open Society Justice Initiative
The Open Society Justice Initiative database brings the Justice Initiative’s scholarship to HeinOnline, providing access to works published by the Justice Initiative including reports, handbooks, briefing papers, legal and policy submissions, and fact sheets exploring and advocating on issues of human rights and justice, in HeinOnline’s fully searchable, image-based format.
HeinOnline Women and the Law
HeinOnline offers a searchable and browsable database focused on women in law including primary sources on feminism, suffrage, employment, education, and more.

LGBT Life with Full Text
LGBT Life with Full Text contains all of the content available in LGBT Life as well as full text for more than 130 of the most important and historically significant LGBT journals

Open Access Initiative of the National Museum of African American History & Culture
The Smithsonian's Open Access collection includes images searchable and browsable by topics with a focus on social justice and history.
Oxford African American Studies Center
The Oxford African American Studies Center combines the authority of carefully edited reference works with sophisticated technology to create the most comprehensive collection of scholarship available online to focus on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture.

Videos

Journals and Articles

Critical Race Theory: An Annotated Bibliography
This bibliography lists and annotates the major entries within the Critical Race Theory corpus. For each entry is supplied a brief summary, along with one or more numbers corresponding to a list of major CRT themes.
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Delgado, Stefancic. “Critical Race Theory: An Annotated Bibliography.” Virginia Law Review, vol. 79, no. 2, Virginia Law Review Association, Mar. 1993, pp. 461–516, doi:10.2307/1073418.
Combahee River Collective Statement
"We are a collective of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. [1] During that time we have been involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while at the same time doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements. The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression..."
Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence
This article is foundational in Women and Gender Studies. It interrogates lesbian visibility, structures of lesbian sexuality, and the role of literary criticism in lesbian existence.
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Rich, Adrienne. “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs, vol. 5, no. 4, 1980, pp. 631–660. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3173834. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.
Performative Acts of Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory
Foundational in queer and feminist theory, Butler establishes that gender is performative. In spite of being assigned genders at birth, it is action that dictates gender division.
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Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, pp. 519–531. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3207893. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.

Alternative Resources

Zines

A zine, short for fanzine or magazine, is a DIY* subculture self-publication, usually made on paper and reproduced with a photocopier or printer. Zine creators are often motivated by a desire to share knowledge or experience with people in marginalized or otherwise less-empowered communities (Barnard Zine Library).

Alfred University Libraries have a Zine Collection which is housed in Scholes Library. The Zine Collection focuses on bringing alternative voices into the academic library and includes work that supports our commitment to anti-racism and anti-oppression, as well as work from students and folks related to Alfred University.

Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Resources: General Resources