Salt Lake City Public Library’s Black Lives Matter Toolkit + Recommended Reading, Watching, and Listening.

Edit, August 11, 2020: We have updated this post to reorganize all the recommendations by age group. Keep reading to find The City Library’s Black Lives Matter Statement along with book, movie, TV, and music recommendations.

Our Salt Lake community is suffering. Black residents make up 1.06% of Utah’s population, yet represent 10% of the police-related deaths [Mapping Police Violence, 2020], and experience the impact of systemic racism in everything from housing to equitable wages. This isn’t a matter of politics, this is about people’s lives. As an organization that has a mission to serve our city, to be a community space, and to provide equitable access to information and resources, we recognize the need to not just state that Black Lives Matter, but to begin a process of self-reflection as individuals and as an institution. This means taking a hard look in the mirror to evaluate our policies and the role we all play in upholding systems of oppression and racism.

We haven’t historically been the advocate or resource we could have been for our Black community or for our other marginalized communities. But we are here to say Black Lives Matter, and we are committed to becoming a better and stronger advocate and resource for our Black community and others moving forward.

Here you’ll find a curated list of our staff’s book recommendations — books that meant a lot to each of them in their learning and practice of anti-racism. These Adult, Teen and Children’s items are all available through the Library, and we hope that they will help you on your journey of self-reflection. This list could be a lot longer, and we encourage you to continue your journey of exploring and finding Black authors, artists, activists, and musicians whose materials aren’t yet available in The City Library’s catalog. If you find something important we’re missing, click here to let us know!

Jump to: Adults:Books, Adults: DVDs, CDs, Teens and Tweens: Books, Teens and Tweens: DVDs, Kids: Books, Kids: DVDs, Kids: CDs, Final Note.

For Adults Books

Just Beginning?

• Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [Digital & CD], eBook, Large Print
• So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo
  Available as: Book, Audiobook
• Your Black Friend and Other Strangers, Ben Passmore
  Available as: Book
• The Fire This Time, Jesmyn Ward
  Available as: Book
• Dear White People, Justin Simien
  Available as: Book

Ready to Get in Deep?

• I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, Austin Channing Brown
  Available as: Book
• Racial Paranoia, John Jackson
  Available as: Book
• How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon
  Available as: eBook
• From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
  Available as: Book
• One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, Carol Anderson
  Available as: Book, eBook

Race and Gender Reads

• Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Black Girls Rock! Owning Our Magic, Rocking Our Truth, Beverly Bond
  Available as: Book
• Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves: An Anthology, Glory Edim
  Available as: Book
• Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower, Brittney Cooper
  Available as: Book
• The Mothers, Brit Bennett
  Available as: Book
• All About Love, Bell Hooks
  Available as: Book

Intersecting with LGBTQIA+

• The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Go Tell it On the Mountain, James Baldwin
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD]
• The Body is Not an Apology, Sonya Renee Taylor
  Available as: Book
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, Angela Y Davis
  Available as: Book
• How We Fight for Our Lives, Saeed Jones
  Available as: Book

Highly Recommended

• The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin
  Available as: Book, eBook
• The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [Digital & CD], eBook
• Beloved, Toni Morrison
  Available as: Book, Audiobook
• The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [Digital & CD], eBook, Spanish-language book

Anti-Racism Toolbox

• How to be an Antiracist, Ibram X Kendi
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• White Fragility, Robin Diangelo
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge
  Available as: Book
• How To Be Less Stupid About Race, Crystal Marie Fleming
  Available as: Book

Relevant Fiction

• Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook [Digital & CD]
• Everywhere You Don’t Belong, Gabriel Bump
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio Ebook
• Kindred, Octavia E. Butler
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [Digital & CD], eBook
• Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• The Good Lord Bird, James McBride
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook, Large Print

Historical Contexts

• Citizen: an American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
  Available as: Book, eBook
• A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook [Digital & CD]
• They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era, Wesley Lowery
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Available as: Book
• Stamped From the Beginning: the Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, Ibram X Kendi
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon
  Available as: Book
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, Isabel Wilkerson
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD]

Excellent Memoirs:

• You Can’t Touch My Hair and Other Things I Still Have to Explain, Phoebe Robinson
  Available as: Book, Audiobook
• When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook
• Assata: An Autobiography, Assata Shakur
  Available as: Book
• Becoming, Michelle Obama
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook [Digital & CD], Spanish-language book
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook [Digital & CD]
• The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  Available as: Book, Audiobook

Poetry and Anthologies

• Don’t Call Us Dead, Danez Smith
  Available as: Book
• Wake Up Our Souls, Tonya Bolden
  Available as: Book
• Experimental Love: Poetry, Cheryl Clarke
  Available as: Book
• Coal, Audre Lorde
  Available as: Book
• Magical Negro, Morgan Parker
  Available as: Book

For Adults: DVDs

Narrative Movies

• Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee
• Dear White People, Justin Simien
• Sorry To Bother You, Boots Riley
• Get Out, Jordan Peele
• Red Tails, Anthony Hemingway
• Chi-Raq, Spike Lee

Biographies & Biopics

• Fruitvale Station, Ryan Coogler
  Also available as an eMovie
• Malcolm X, Spike Lee
• 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen
• BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee
• Nas: Time Is Illmatic, One9
• Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask, Isaac Julien

Historical Context Documentaries

• I Am Somebody: Three Films by Madeline Anderson, Madeline Anderson
• I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck
  Also available as an eMovie
• The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
• Eyes On The Prize: Volumes 1 & 2, Orlando Bagwell
• Slavery By Another Name, Sam Pollard
• Boss: The Black Experience In Business, Stanley Nelson
• Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story Of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Stanley Nelson

Eye-Opening Documentaries

• Black Is… Black Ain’t: A Personal Journey Through Black Identity, Marlon Rigg
• Unnatural Causes : Is Inequality Making Us Sick?, Llewellyn M. Smith
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening, RaMell Ross
• Whose Streets?, Sabaah Folayan & Damon Davis
• Baltimore Rising, Sonja Sohn

Based on a Book

• Go Tell It On The Mountain, Stan Lathan [TV Movie]
  Available as an eMovie
• African Americans: Many Rivers To Cross, Henry Louis Gates Jr, Julie Anderson
• If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins
• Freedom Riders, Stanley Nelson
  Available as an eMovie
• Daughters Of The Dust, Julie Dash

Black Lives TV

• Atlanta, Donald Glover
  Seasons 1 & 2
• Roots, based on Alex Haley’s book, Roots
  Season 1
• Insecure, Issa Rae & Larry Wilmore
  Season 1
• Blackish, Kenya Barris
  Season 1
• The Chi, Lena Waithe
  Seasons 1 & 2

Gender and Race

• Harriet, Kasi Lemmons
• Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed, Shola Lynch
• Free Angela, And All Political Prisoners, Shola Lynch
• Dark Girls, D. Channsin Berry & Bill Duke
• Waiting To Exhale, Forest Whitaker
• Little, Tina Gordon

Intersecting with LGBTQIA+

• Rafiki = Friend, Wanuri Kahiu
• The Watermelon Woman, Cheryl Dunye
• Moonlight, Barry Jenkins
• Looking For Langston, Isaac Julien
• Pariah, Dees Rees

NAACP Image Awards

• Clemency, Chinonye Chukwu
• The Rosa Parks Story, Julie Dash [TV Movie]
• Selma, Ava DuVernay
• Boyz N The Hood, John Singleton
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, Spike Lee

CDs

Local

• Vintage Dreamin’, Joshy Soul
• Cocinando con Julio Child, Julio Child
• Love Emergency, Afro Omega
• The Legendary Joe McQueen Quartet, Joe McQueenAvailable as: HUM Album
• Old Skool Cool, J. Derrickson Project
  Available as: HUM Album
• Reach to the Sky, Lizzy Luna
  Available as: HUM Album
• Water, Grits Green
  Available as: HUM Album and CD

You can listen to local HUM artists right now, at hum.slcpl.org.

Highly Recommended

• 99¢, Santigold
• A Seat At The Table, Solange
• To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar
• Lemonade, Beyoncé
• The Great James Brown: Live At The Apollo 1995, James Brown
• Legacy! Legacy!, Jamila Woods

Grammy-Winners

• The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill
• Innervisions, Stevie Wonder
• River: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock
• Genius Loves Company, Ray Charles
• Spearkboxxx/The Love Below, Outkast
• Back On The Block, Quincy Jones
• Coming Home, Leon Bridges
• Anatomy of a Murder, Duke Ellington

Female Icons

• Heavn, Jamila Woods
• Cuz I Love You, Lizzo
• Eve, Rapsody
• Someone To Watch Over Me, Ella Fitzgerald
• Nina Simone & Piano!, Nina Simone
• Gold, Gladys Knight
• The Best of Roberta Flack, Roberta Flack
• Diana Ross & The Supremes: The Definitive Collection, Diana Ross

LGBTQIA+ Artists

• Channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean
• Sweetsexysavage, Kehlani
• Comet, Come To Me, Me’Shell NdegéOcello
• 1991 EP, Azealia Banks
• House Masters, Frankie Knuckles, Frankie Knuckles
• Shout Sister Shout, Rosetta Tharpe
• Primal Prayer, Beverly Glenn-Copeland
• Igor, Tyler, the Creator

Popular Music

• Here, My Dear, Marvin Gaye
• Love Songs, Nat King Cole
• Twenty Four Seven, Tina Turner
• I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houson
• Walk Through Fire, Yola
• Dirty Computer, Janelle Monae
• Best Of Patti LaBelle, Patti LaBelle

Pre-’97 Hip-Hop

• Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.
• The Low End Theory, Tribe Called Quest
• Hard Core, Lil’ Kim
• Fear Of A Black Planet, Public Enemy
• Me Against The World, Tupac Shakur
• The Chronic, Dr. Dre
• Life After Death, Notorious B.I.G.
• Tougher Than Leather, Run-D.M.C.
• Salt-N-Pepa, Salt-N-Pepa

Post 90’s Hip Hop

• “Awaken, My Love!”, Childish Gambino
• How I Got Over, Roots
• DAMN, Kendrick Lamar
• There Existed An Addiction To Blood, Clipping
• Everything’s Fine, Jean Grae
• God’s Son, Nas
• Funeral, Lil Wayne
• Black America Again, Common
• Queen, Nicki Minaj

Soul & R&B

• Hive Mind, The Internet
• Time Is On My Side, Irma Thomas
• Ctrl, SZA
• Anti, Rihanna
• Baduizm, Erykah Badu
• Sing To The Moon, Laura Mvula
• It Is What It Is, Thundercat

Jazz

• The Essential Nina Simone, Nina Simone
• Archie Shepp: The Early Albums Collection, Archie Shepp
• Emanon, Wayne Shorter
• Take A Little Trip, Minnie Riperton
• Suite for Max Brown, Jeff Parker
• Heaven and Earth, Kamasi Washington
• A Love Supreme, John Coltrane

Avant-Garde Jazz

• Journey in Satchidananda, Alice Coltrane
• Rosa Parks : Pure Love, Wadada Leo Smith
• The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady, Charles Mingus
• The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Sun Ra
• Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp, Henry Threadgill Zooid
• Moving Target, Gil Scott-Heron
• Brown Rice, Don Cherry

Live Jazz Recordings

• The Best Of The Hot Five And Hot Seven Recordings, Louis Armstrong
• Billie Holiday At Storyville, Billie Holiday
• Miles At The Fillmore: 1970, Miles Davis
• Thelonious Monk Live In ’66, Thelonious Monk
• Flood, Herbie Hancock
• The Illinois Concert, Eric Dolphy
• Live In Japan, Sarah Vaughan

Blues

• The Chess Box, Willie Dixon
• Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings, Robert Johnson
• Lead Belly : The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, Leadbelly
• The Definitive Collection, Howlin’ Wolf
• Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul, Otis Redding
• I’m Ready, Muddy Waters
• Roots And Branches : The Songs Of Little Walter, Little Walter
• Night Beat, Sam Cooke

Gospel

• Fire In My Bones Raw + Rare + Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944–2007, Compilation
• Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings, Aretha Franklin
• The Essential Mahalia Jackson, Mahalia Jackson
• Amazing Grace, Blind Boys Of Alabama
• How I Got Over The Apollo Sessions, Mahalia Jackson
• The Bluebird Recordings, 1937–1938, Sonny Boy Williamson
• Spiritual Sketches, Lawrence Brownlee

Folk & Americana

• Tomorrow Is My Turn, Rhiannon Giddens
• Songs of Our Native Daughters, Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell
• Nine Pin, Kaia Kater
• Leaving Eden, Carolina Chocolate Drops
• Tracy Chapman, Tracy Chapman
• The Capitalist Blues, Leyla McCalla

Classical Performers & Composers

• Treemonisha: An Opera In Three Acts, Scott Joplin
• Femenine, Julius Eastman
• For Alto, Anthony Braxton
• Softly Awakes My Heart, Marian Anderson
• Symphony №1: Afro-American, William Grant Still
• Piano Quintet Clarinet Quintet, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
• Piano Music By African American Composers, Natalie Hinderas

Afro-Latinx

• De La Caridad Alfonso, Celia Cruz
• Ay Valeria!, Ricardo Lemvo
• Ash, Ibeyi
• Habana Dreams, Pedro Martinez
• Ayó, Garifuna Collective
• Otra Formato De Musica, Tribu De Abrante
• Utopia, Romeo Santos
• 14+14, Aventura
• Meet the Orphans, Don Omar

Electronic & Atmospheric

• Vision Songs, Vol. 1, Laraaji
• Black Origami, Jlin
• Magdalene, FKA Twigs
• Outer Peace, Toro y Moi
• Process, Sampha
• Until the Quiet Comes, Flying Lotus
• Donuts, J Dilla

Rock & Indie

• Græ, Moses Sumney
• Negro Swan, Blood Orange
• Vagabon, Vagabon
• Eclipse, Twin Shadow
• Jaime, Brittany Howard
• Experience Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix
• Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes
• Seeds, TV On the Radio
• Greatest Hits, Earth, Wind & Fire

Righteous & Riotous

• Carnivore, Body Count
• Shade, Living Colour
• Generation Indigo, Poly Styrene
• Fetish Bones, Moor Mother
• Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, Moor Mother
• The Money Store, Death Grips
• Black Up, Shabazz Palaces
• Saul Williams, Saul Williams

For Teens and Tweens: Books

Tweens

• Ghost, Jason Reynolds
  Available as: Book, eBook
• My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, Ibi Zoboi
  Available as: Book
• Harbor Me, Jaqueline Woodson
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook, Audio eBook
• Pet, Akwaeke Emezi
  Available as: Book
• Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes
  Available as: Book, eBook, audio eBook
• Hurricane Child, Kacen Callender
  Available as: Book, eBook

Gender & Race

• Flygirl, Sherri L Smith
  Available as: Book
• Watch Us Rise, Renee Watson & Ellen Hagan
  Available as: Book, eBook
• The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Issa Rae
  Available as: Book
• Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, Echo Brown
  Available as: Book
• Slay, Brittney Morris
  Available as: Book
• Calling My Name, Liara Tamani
  Available as: Book

Intersecting with LGBTQIA+

• Dread Nation and The Deathless Divide, Justina Ireland
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Odd One Out, Nic Stone
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Little and Lion, Brandy Colbert
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook
• The Weight of the Stars, K. Ancrum
  Available as: Book
• Felix Ever After, Kacen Callender
  Available as: eBook
• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, Junauda Petrus
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook

Realistic Fiction

• Black Enough, Ibi Zoboi (17 short stories, all by Black authors)
  Available as: Book
• Calling My Name, Liara Tamani
  Available as: Book
• Allegedly, Tiffany Jackson
  Available as: Book, eBook
• All American Boys, Jason Reynolds
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany Jackson
  Available as: Book
• Monster, Walter Dean Myers
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook
• Tyler Johnson Was Here, Jay Coles
  Available as: Book, eBook

Relevant Biographies/Memoirs

• When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir, Patrisse Cullors & Asha Bandele
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin, Sybrina Fulton
  Available as: Book
• All Boys Aren’t Blue, George M. Johnson
  Available as: Book
• Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls, Tonya Bolden
  Available as: Book, ebook
• Queen Bey: A Celebration of the Power and Creativity of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Veronica Chambers
  Available as: Book

Poetry

• Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
  Available as: eBook, Audio eBook, physical book
• Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry, Ed. Arnold Rampersad
  Available as: Book
• The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook, Audio eBook
• Words With Wings, Nikki Grimes
  Available as: eBook, Audio eBook
• The Crossover, Kwame Alexander
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook

Graphic Novels

• March, John Lewis
  Available as: Book
• Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  Available as: Book
• New Kid, Jerry Craft
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Bingo Love, Tee Franklin
  Available as: Book
• I Am Alfonso Jones, Tony Medina
  Available as: Book
• Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, Greg Neri
  Available as: Book
• Hot Comb, Ebony Flowers
  Available as: Book

Coretta Scott King Award Winners

• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Genesis Begins Again, Alicia D. Williams
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Look Both Ways, Jason Reynolds
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Monday’s Not Coming, Tiffany D. Jackson
  Available as: Book
• Piecing Me Together, Reneé Watson
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• The Stars Beneath Our Feet, David Barclay Moore
  Available as: Book
• Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook

Winner of the NAACP Award

• X, Ilyasah Shabazz, Kekla Magoon
  Available as: Book, eBook
• I’m Not Dying with You Tonight, Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
  Available as: Book, eBook,
• The Forgotten Girl, India Hill Brown
  Available as: Book, eBook
• A Very Large Expanse of Sea, Tahereh Maji
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook
• Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man, Tonya Bolden
  Available as: Book

Black Immigration

• Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo
  Available as: Book, eBook
• American Street, Ibu Aanu Zoboi
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• The Sun Is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook, Audio eBook
• Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  Available as: eBook, Audio eBook, Book
• The Go-Between, Veronica Chambers
  Available as: Book

Teen Appropriate Non-Fiction

• Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow, Henry Louis Gates Jr
  Available as: Book
• Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You, Ibram X Kendi & Jason Reynolds
  Available as: eBook
• Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves, an Anthology
  Available as: Book
• Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, Michael Bennett
  Available as: Book
• Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook, Audio eBook, Large Print

For Teens and Tweens: DVDs

• A Ballerina’s Tale, Nelson George
• House Party, Reginald Hudlin
• Menace II Society, The Hughes Brothers
• The Hate U Give, George Tillman Jr.
• Black Panther, Ryan Coogler
• A Raisin In The Sun, Kenny Leon

For Children and Adolescents: Books

Babies & Toddlers (approximately ages 0–3)

• Every Little Thing, Cedella Marley
  Available as: Book
• Dream Big, Little One, Vashti Harrison
  Available as: Book
• An ABC of Equality, Chana Ginelle Ewing
  Available as: Book
• Woke Baby, Mahogany L. Browne
  Available as: Book
• A is for Activist, Innosanto Nagara
  Available as: Book
• Whose Knees are These?, Jabari Asim
  Available as: Book

Preschoolers (approximately ages 3–6)

• My Hair Is a Garden, Cozbi A. Cabrera
  Available as: Book
• Hands Up, Breanna McDaniel
  Available as: Book
• What’s the Difference? Being Different is Amazing, Doyin Richards
  Available as: Book
• Hair Love, Matthew A Curry
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills, Renee Watson
  Available as: Book
• Brown Sugar Babe, Charlotte Watson Sherman
  Available as: Book

Elementary School (approximately ages 6–9)

• Young, Gifted and Black, Jamia Wilson
  Available as: Book
• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices, Wade Hudson
  Available as: Book
• Sit-in: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down, Andrea Davis Pinkney
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook
• Parker Looks Up: An Extraordinary Moment, Parker Curry
  Available as: Book
• You Matter, Christian Robinson,
  Available as: Book
• Malcolm Little: the Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz
  Available as: Book
• The Day You Begin, Jacqueline Woodson
  Available as: Book

Tweens (approximately ages 9–12)

• Piecing Me Together, Renee Watson
  Coretta Scott King Award, Newbery Medal
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Genesis Begins Again, Alicia D. Williams
  Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award, Morris Award
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• A Good Kind of Trouble, Lisa Moore Ramée
  Available as: Book
• March, Books 1–3, John Lewis; art by Nate Powell
  Available as: Book, eBook

Picture Books

• Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!, Wynton Marsalis
  Available as: Book
• I am Enough, Grace Byers
  Available as: Book, Audio Ebook
• Little Man, Little Man : A Story of Childhood, James Baldwin
  Available as: Book
• Brown Baby Lullaby, Tameka Fryer Brown
  Available as: Book
• M is for Melanin, Tiffany Rose
  Available as: Book
• We March, Shane W. Evans
  Available as: Book
• Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, Derrick Barnes
  Available as: Book, Audio eBook, eMovie

Poetry

• Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice, Anthology (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• The Undefeated, Kwame Alexander (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy, Tony Medina (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration, Samara Cole Doyon (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Book, eMovie
• Black Girl Magic, Mahogany L. Browne (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD], eBook, Audio eBook

Gender and Race

• Astro Girl, Ken Wilson-Max (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Just Like Me, Vanessa Brantley-Newton (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History, Vashti Harrison (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Picture Book, eBook
• Hidden Figures : the True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, Margot Lee Shetterly (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Betty Before X, Ilyasah Shabazz and Renee Watson (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, Audiobook [CD]
• Lifting As We Climb : Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book
• March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine, Melba Beals (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book

Intersecting with LGBTQIA+

• The Parker Inheritance, Varian Johnson (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook
• The Only Black Girls in Town, Brandy Colbert (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Hurricane Child, Kacen Callender (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Look Both Ways, Jason Reynolds (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book
• The Black Flamingo, Dean Atta (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book

Coretta Scott King Award

• The Patchwork Quilt, Valerie Flournoy (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop : The Sanitation strike of 1968, Alice Faye Duncan (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, Carole Boston Weatherford (6–9 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Tar Beach, Faith Ringgold
  Available as: Picture Book (6–9 years old)
• One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audiobook [CD], Audio eBook
• New Kid, Jerry Craft (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook

Winner of the NAACP Award

• Sulwe, Lupita Nyong’o (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook
• Before She Was Harriet, Lesa Cline-Ransome (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• The Five O’clock Band, Troy Trombone Shorty Andrews (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book
• Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, Javaka Steptoe (3–6 years old)
  Available as: Book, eBook, Audio eBook
• Becoming Kareem : Growing Up On and Off the Court, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (9–12 years old)
  Available as: Book

For Children and Adolescents: DVDs

• Ruby Bridges, Euzhan Palcy
• Selma, Lord, Selma, Charles Burnett
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Peter A. Ramsey
• A Wrinkle In Time, Ava DuVernay
• Pride, Sunu Gonera
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham, Kenny Leon

For Children and Adolescents: CDs

• This Is Rhythm, Ella Jenkins
• Miss Ella’s Playhouse, Ella Fitzgerald
• Songs For The Young At Heart, Taj Mahal
• Lead Belly Sings For Children, Lead Belly
• Motown For Kids, Motown
• Choo Choo Boogaloo, Buckwheat Zydeco
• Second Star To The Right, Sun Ra

Final Note:

While this post has come to an end, our work has not. We will continue to update you on our efforts as we continue to strive to examine and address inequities within our system and how we serve the community, specifically how we serve and support our Black community. We are committed to update you on our efforts and this work. We are Your City Library. And we are your Librarians; we invite you to use us as a point of reference for self-education, curiosity, and research on issues of equity and more. Please come to us, our desk is open.

References for the Introduction

Haddad, M. (2020). Mapping US Police Killings of Black Americans. Aljazeera.

Mapping Police Violence. (2020). 2019 Police Violence Report.