Exciting news: President Biden just made Juneteenth a federal holiday, to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas issued an order announcing that, in accordance with the Emancipation Proclamation, “all slaves are free.”
Not all of us, however, are up to speed on the full significance of Juneteenth, or the systemic racial inequalities that have still plagued our country since the Civil War. So if you’re looking to read more about the past, present, and future of race relations in America, we recommend starting with the nine excellent new books below.
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
By Heather McGhee
One of today’s top experts on social and economic policy offers a powerful exploration of inequality and the lesson that generations of Americans have failed to learn: Racism has a cost for everyone—not just for people of color. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations
By Robert Livingston
An essential tool for individuals, organizations, and communities of all sizes to jump-start dialogue on racism and bias, and to transform well-intentioned statements on diversity into concrete actions—from a leading Harvard social psychologist. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
One of the leading physicists of her generation, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is also one of fewer than one hundred Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics. Her vision of the cosmos is vibrant, buoyantly non-traditional, and grounded in Black feminist traditions. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do
By Jennifer Eberhardt
Whether we’re aware of it or not, unconscious bias affects all of us—yes, even you. But that doesn’t make you a bad person. As Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt writes in Biased, there are steps we can take to minimize the impact of racial bias not only in our own lives, but also in society at large. View Our Video E-Course
Uncensored: My Life and Uncomfortable Conversations at the Intersection of Black and White America
By Zachary R. Wood
By sharing his troubled upbringing—from a difficult early childhood to the struggles of code-switching between his home and his elite private school—Zach Wood makes a compelling argument for a new way of interacting with others and presents a new outlook on society’s most difficult conversations. View on Amazon
Building for Everyone: Expand Your Market with Design Practices from Google’s Product Inclusion Team
By Annie Jean-Baptiste
For years, Google has set the standard for innovative products and business practices. And now, their Head of Product Inclusion, Annie Jean-Baptiste, shows how any organization can cultivate inclusive teams where diversity becomes a source of strength and creativity. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams
By Stefanie K. Johnson
In this groundbreaking guide, a management expert outlines the transformative leadership skill of tomorrow—one that can make it possible to build truly diverse and inclusive teams that value employees’ need to belong while still being themselves. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
Better, Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice
By Yusef Salaam
This inspirational memoir serves as a call to action from prison reform activist Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five, which will inspire us all to turn our stories into tools for change in the pursuit of racial justice. View on Amazon
Just Us: An American Conversation
By Claudia Rankine
In this thoughtful collection of essays, poems, and images, Yale professor Claudia Rankine urges us to begin the discussions that might open pathways through this racially divided moment in American history. View Our “Book Bite” Summary
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