Skip to Main Content

Waidner-Spahr Library

Together for Justice: Black Lives Matter

This guide highlights Dickinson library resources, including books, films, and databases, for expanding our understanding of social justice issues, so that we can combat discrimination in all its forms. You can discover more resources on the library website. If you would like help finding additional information sources, or if you wish to recommend additional resources, please contact a librarian for assistance.

Books: State Violence & Mass Incarceration in the United States

Chokehold: Policing Black Men by Paul Butler
Call Number: Available Online
Deadly Injustice by Devon Johnson, Devon, Patricia Y. Warren, and Amy Farrell
Call Number: Available Online
Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City by Clarence Taylor
Call Number: Available Online
From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America by Elizabeth Kai Hinton
Call Number: Available Online
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Call Number: Available Online
Nobody: Casualities of America's War on the Vulnterable, From Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill
Call Number: Available Online (3 simultaneous users)
One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson; John Lewis (Foreword by, Introduction by); Dick Durbin (Foreword by, Introduction by)
Call Number: JK1924 .A54 2018

ISBN: 1635571375

Publication Date: 2018-09-11
Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD by Max Felker-Kantor
Call Number: Available Online
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris
Call Number: Available Online
Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces by Radley Balko
Call Number: HV8080 .S64 B354 2013
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: E185.61 .K358 2016

Movies & Documentaries

College Behind Bars (PBS, 2019)

Open Access Streaming:

Fiction by Contemporary Black Authors About Navigating White Supremacy

These are books in the library that were featured on this list, which can also be consulted for summaries as well as further titles:

https://electricliterature.com/fiction-by-contemporary-black-authors-about-navigating-white-supremacy/

The City We Became: A Novel by N. K. Jemisin
Call Number: PS3610.E46 C58 2020
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Call Number: Available Online (2 simultaneous users)
God Help the Child: A Novel by Toni Morrison
Call Number: Available Online (1 user; more information forthcoming)
Lakewood: A Novel by Megan Giddings
Call Number: PS3607.I2748 L35 2020
The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe; Alaya Dawn Johnson; Danny Lore; Eve L. Ewing; Yohanca Delgado; Sheree Renée Thomas
Call Number: PS3613.O52266 M46 2022

ISBN: 9780063070875

Publication Date: 2022-04-19
Real Life: A Novel by Brandon Taylor
Call Number: Available Online (1 user; more information forthcoming)
The Revisioners: A Novel by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Call Number: Available Online
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
Call Number: PS3615.N93 R56 2020
The Sellout: A Novel by Paul Beatty
Call Number: PS3552 .E19 S45 2015
Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
Call Number: Available Online (3 simultaneous users)
Such a Fun Age: A Novel by Kiley Reid
Call Number: Available Online (1 user; more information forthcoming)
We Cast a Shadow: A Novel by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Call Number: Available Online (1 user; more information forthcoming)
Welcome to Braggsville: A Novel by T. Geronimo Johnson
Call Number: PS3610.O38339 W45 2015

Books: Popular Culture

Speculative Film and Moving Images by or about Black Women and Girls: Watch It! by Karima K. Jeffrey-Legette; Hoda M. Zaki (Foreword by); Trudier Harris (Afterword by)
Call Number: PN1995.9.S669535 J44 2023

ISBN: 9781793627032

Publication Date: 2023-01-31
Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes by Adilifu Nama
Call Number: Available Online & PN6725 .N32 2011

ISBN: 9780292726741

Publication Date: 2011-10-01
Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before: Subversive Portrayals in Speculative Film and TV by Diana Adesola Mafe
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9781477315224

Publication Date: 2018-03-01

Books: Black Lives Matter & Anti-Racism Movements

Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism by Allissa V. Richardson
Call Number: Available Online
The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972 by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: LC2781 .R65 2012

ISBN: 0230117813

Publication Date: 2012-04-03
Black Woman Reformer: Ida B. Wells, Lynching, and Transatlantic Activism by Sarah L. Silkey
Call Number: Available Online
Degrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912 by William D. Green
Call Number: Available Online
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney C. Cooper
Call Number: HQ1413 .C67 C67 2018
The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward
Call Number: Available Online (3 simultaneous users)
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (Expanded Second Edition) by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor; Angela Y. Davis (Foreword by)
Call Number: E185.615 .T39 2021

ISBN: 9781642594553

Publication Date: 2021-06-01
Hands up, Don't Shoot: Why the Protests in Ferguson and Baltimore Matter, and How They Changed America by Jennifer E. Cobbina
Call Number: Available Online
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Call Number: Available Online and E184.A1 K344 2019

Publication Date: 2019
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Call Number: Available Online
The Making of Black Lives Matter by Christopher J. Lebron
Call Number: Available Online (3 simultaneous users)
More Than Our Pain: Affect and Emotion in the Era of Black Lives Matter by Beth Hinderliter (Editor); Steve Peraza (Editor)
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9781438483115

Publication Date: 2021-04-01
NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement by Brian C. Odom (Editor); Stephen P. Waring
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9780813066202

Publication Date: 2019-11-19
The People’s Plaza: Sixty-Two Days of Nonviolent Resistance by Justin Jones; William J. Barber (Foreword by); William J. Barber (Foreword by)
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9780826504975

Publication Date: 2022-08-15
Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements by Deva R. Woodly
Call Number: Available Online & E185.615 .W636 2022

ISBN: 9780197603949

Publication Date: 2021-11-26
Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era by Tiffany Austin (Editor); Sequoia Maner (Editor); Emily Ruth Rutter (Editor); darlene anita scott (Editor)
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9780367853549

Publication Date: 2019-12-09
Stay Woke: A People's Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter by Tehama Lopez Bunyasi and Candis Watts Smith
Call Number: Available Online
Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements
Call Number: Available Online (1 user)
What Ferguson Can Teach Us by Ronald Eric Matthews, Leah Szalai, and L. M. Flaherty
Call Number: Available Online
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele, with a foreword by Angela Davis
Call Number: E185.97 .K43 A3 2018

Resources for Revisiting the Elegy in the Black Lives Matter Era

Podcasts

Comics

APB: Artists Against Police Brutality: A Comic Book Anthology by Bill Campbell (Editor); Jason Rodriguez (Editor); John Jennings (Editor)
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 1495607526

Publication Date: 2015-10-28
Black by Kwanza Osajyefo; Jamal Igle (Artist); Robin Riggs (Artist); Derwin Roberson (Artist); Tim Smith (Artist)
Call Number: PN6728.C345 O83 2017

ISBN: 162875186X

Publication Date: 2017-11-14
Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation by Sheena C. Howard (Editor); Ronald L. Jackson II (Editor)
Call Number: Available Online & PN6725 .B56 2013

ISBN: 9781441172761

Publication Date: 2013-05-09
The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art by Frances Gateward (Editor, Contribution by); John Jennings (Editor, Contribution by); Daniel F. Yezbick (Contribution by); Sally McWilliams (Contribution by); Patrick F. Walter (Contribution by); Nancy Goldstein (Contribution by); Robin Means Coleman (Contribution by); William Lafi Youmans (Contribution by); Consuela Francis (Contribution by); Andre Carrington (Contribution by); Reynaldo Anderson (Contribution by); Blair Davis (Contribution by); Kinohi Nishikawa (Contribution by); Qiana Whitted (Contribution by); Craig Fischer (Contribution by); Hershini Bhana Young (Contribution by); James J. Zeigler (Contribution by); Rebecca Wanzo (Contribution by)
Call Number: Available Online & PN6725 .B57 2015

ISBN: 9780813572345

Publication Date: 2015-07-16
Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates; Brian Stelfreeze (Artist)
Call Number: PN6728 .B523 C63 2016

ISBN: 1302900536

Publication Date: 2016-09-13
Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime by Deborah Elizabeth Whaley
Call Number: Available Online

Publication Date: 2015
The Good Fight: Taking a Stand Against Racism and Bigotry by Adam L. Ferris (Editor); Danny Lore (Editor)
Call Number: PN6726 .G66 2019

ISBN: 9781645701767

Publication Date: 2019-05-21
Icon: The Mothership Connection by Dwayne McDuffie; Mark D. Bright (Artist, Cover Design by)
Call Number: PN6727.M28 I38 2010

ISBN: 1401227112

Publication Date: 2010-06-08
March: Book One by John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell (Illustrator)
Call Number: E840.8 .L43 A3 2013

ISBN: 1603093001

Publication Date: 2013-08-13
March: Book Three by John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell
Call Number: E840.8 .L43 A3 2016

ISBN: 9781603094023

Publication Date: 2016-08-02
March: Book Two by John Lewis; Andrew Aydin; Nate Powell (Illustrator)
Call Number: E840.8 .L43 A3 2015

ISBN: 1603094008

Publication Date: 2015-01-20
Milestone Compendium One by Ivan Velez; Dwayne McDuffie; Denys Cowan (Illustrator); Bob Smith; Bright (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6726 .M55 2021

ISBN: 9781779513106

Publication Date: 2022-02-01
Nubia: Real One by L. L. McKinney; Robyn Smith (Illustrator)
Call Number: PZ7.7.M44226 Nu 2021

ISBN: 9781401296407

Publication Date: 2021-02-23
Nubia and the Amazons by Vita Ayala; Stephanie Williams; Alitha Martinez (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6728.N83 W55 2022

ISBN: 9781779516671

Publication Date: 2022-09-06
The Other History of the DC Universe by John Ridley
Call Number: PN6728.O84 R53 2021

ISBN: 9781779511973

Publication Date: 2021-11-16
Raising Dion by Dennis Liu (Writer); Jason Piperberg (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6728.R35 L58 2015

Publication Date: 2015
The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long; Jim Demonakos; Nate Powell (Illustrator)
Call Number: PN6727 .L67 S55 2018

ISBN: 1250164982

Publication Date: 2018-01-02
Unstable Masks: Whiteness and American Superhero Comics by Sean Guynes (Editor); Martin Lund (Editor); Frederick Luis Aldama (Foreword by); Noah Berlatsky (Afterword by)
Call Number: Available Online & PN6725 .U485 2020

ISBN: 9780814214183

Publication Date: 2020-01-07

Dickinson History Resources

Dickinson and Slavery website

Dickinson and Slavery Report, 2019

Suggested Reading

Reading Recommendations from Ibram X. Kendi: "An Antiracist Reading List"

How Can I Help?

Take Action

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice: A list from Medium.com
Take Action: A List of Ways You Can Stand In Solidarity with the Black Community: A list from AdHoc with suggestions that include participating in a protest, contributing to a bail fund, donating to other initiatives, supporting minority-owned businesses, educating yourself, and signing a petition
100 Ways You Can Take Action Against Racism Right Now: A list from USA Today
5 Ways to Show Up for Racial Justice Today: A list from KQED
Black Lives Matter Syllabus
After George Floyd’s Killing, What Academics Can Do: Reflections from The Chronicle of Higher Education
How to Be an Antiracist Educator: Five actions for teaching for an antiracist future from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
Black and Asian-American Feminist Solidarities

Provide Financial Support

Donate to a fund recommended by the Women of Color Summit or another charity or organization
- Refer to this guide for information about how to evaluate charities before you give
Find and support Black-owned business in Central PA using the Central PA Black Business Directory
Find and support Black-owned business near you using using the website Support Black Owned

Learn

Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus: JSTOR Daily provides a variety of resources that show they ways that racism is embedded in American society.
The COVID Racial Data Tracker: A collaboration between the COVID Tracking Project and the Antiracist Research & Policy Center, gathering the race and ethnicity data on COVID-19 in the United States
Anti-Racism Resources for Students, Educators, and Citizens: From the University of Connecticut
Answering White People’s Most Commonly Asked Questions about the Black Lives Matter Movement: A Q&A article from The Bold Italic
Smithsonian's Talking About Race: Being Antiracist
Anti-Racist Resource Guide by Victoria Alexander
- More information via Twitter
Association of Black Women Historians YouTube
Book Recommendations for Children

Databases

Books: Racism Against People of African Descent in the United States

Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
Call Number: Available Online & ZA4230 .N63 2018

ISBN: 9781479849949

Publication Date: 2018-02-20
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X.; Alex Haley (As told to)
Call Number: E185.97 .L5 A3 1999

ISBN: 0345350685

Publication Date: 1992

Temporary Online Access
Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America by George Yancy
Call Number: E185.61 .Y36 2018

ISBN: 1538104059

Publication Date: 2018-04-15
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Call Number: E185.615 .C6335 2015

ISBN: 0812993543

Publication Date: 2015-07-14

Temporary Online Access
Birthing Black Mothers by Jennifer C. Nash
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9781478013501

Publication Date: 2021-08-20
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Call Number: PS3568 .A572 C58 2014

ISBN: 1555976905

Publication Date: 2014-10-07

Temporary Online Access
The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives by David Mura
Call Number: Available Online

ISBN: 9781517914547

Publication Date: 2023-01-31
The Strange Careers of the Jim Crow North by Brian Purnell (Editor); Komozi Woodard (As told to); Jeanne Theoharis (Editor)
Call Number: E185.61 .S9143 2019

ISBN: 9781479820337

Publication Date: 2019-04-23
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
Call Number: E185.61 .A5438 2016

ISBN: 1632864126

Publication Date: 2016-05-31