![A reading list for the present moment]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1591295738/peddie/z3eaihefmywfazz8iazi/Urgent11.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1591295738/peddie/z3eaihefmywfazz8iazi/Urgent11.png","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1591295738/peddie/z3eaihefmywfazz8iazi/Urgent11.png","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1591295738/peddie/z3eaihefmywfazz8iazi/Urgent11.png","width":1080}])
Compiled by Peddie's English and History faculty, this list of articles, books, films and more is designed to broaden perspective and deepen engagement. On behalf of the English and History departments, English department head Matthew Roach writes, "Explore these works and broaden your understanding -- even if you simply start with one link, video, or book. Then, reach out to us for further discussion. We look forward to hearing from you."
Nonfiction Articles
Bryan Stevenson on the Frustration Behind the George Floyd Protests (The New Yorker)
The Black Plague, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (The New Yorker)
Who Gets to Be Afraid In America, by Ibram X. Kendi (The Atlantic)
The 1619 Project (The New York Times)
The Case for Reparations, by Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic)
For Cops Who Kill, Special Supreme Court Protection, by Andrew Chung, Lawrence Hurley, Jackie Botts, Andrea Januta and Guillermo Gomez (Reuters Investigates)
How Western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country, by Karen Attiah (The Washington Post)
An exchange on Twitter between Tressie McMillan Cottom and Zeynep Tufekci regarding framing, verb choice and passive v. active voice in media coverage of protests (as well as a similar thread from @shareeny addressing the same post from The New York Times and an examination of front pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post by @johnedwinmason)
Nonfiction Books
Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
Race Matters, by Cornel West
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
We Were Eight Years in Power, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson
On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope, by DeRay McKesson
Thick: And Other Essays, by Tressie McMillan Cottom
White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo
The History of White People, by Nell Irvin Painter
Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
The Revolt of the Black Athlete, by Harry Edwards
How to Be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram X. Kendi
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, by Anna Deavere Smith
From #blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, by Michael Eric Dyson
Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, by Imani Perry
Historical Articles & Documents
What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass (1852)
Speech Addressing Police Brutality (video) - Malcolm X (1962)
Letter from a Birmingham Jail - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
Speech at the Embassy Auditorium (about incarceration & black rights) - Angela Davis (1972)
Candidate Barack Obama’s Speech on Race (2008)
President Obama Issues a Statement on the Ferguson Grand Jury Decision (2014)
Novels
The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead
Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry
A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
The Sellout, by Paul Beatty
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
If Beale Street Could Talk, by James Baldwin
Short Story and Poetry Collections
Friday Black, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Going to Meet the Man, by James Baldwin
Citizen: An American Lyric, by Claudia Rankine
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, by Terrance Hayes
Documentaries
13th (Netflix) (Full Feature available for free on Youtube)
LA 92 (Netflix) (Full Feature available for free on Youtube)
Race: The Power of an Illusion (PBS; Episode Two: We are the Stories we Tell)
Crime + Punishment (Hulu) (Trailer)
Eyes on the Prize series:
- Eyes On The Prize (Part 1): Awakenings 1954-1956
- Eyes On The Prize (Part 2): Fighting Back 1957 1962
- Eyes On The Prize (Part 3): Ain't Scared of Your Jails (1960-1961)
- Birmingham (1963) (short version)
- Eyes On The Prize - (Part 5) Mississippi Is This America 1962–1964
- Eyes On The Prize - (Part 6) Bridge to Freedom 1965
Films
Do the Right Thing (Amazon Prime)
Sorry to Bother You (Hulu)
If Beale Street Could Talk (Hulu)
Hidden Figures (Amazon)
Blindspotting (Amazon Prime)
American Son (Netflix)
Fruitvale Station (Amazon)
Just Mercy (free on Amazon in June 2020)
Queen and Slim (Amazon)
Luce (Hulu)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO)
Television Shows
When They See Us (Netflix)
Patriot Act - Vol. IV, “The Broken Policing System” (Netflix and YouTube)
Dear White People - Vol. I, Chapter V (Netflix)
Black-ish - Season 2, Episode 16 “Hope” (Hulu)
Watchmen (HBO)
The Wire (HBO)
TED Talks
The Danger of a Single Story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Danger of Silence, Clint Smith
How Racism is Making Us Sick, David Williams