Because Black Lives Matter

Now more than ever, it is the time to educate yourself, your friends and your family on white privilege, racism, bystander activism and how to be an ally.

Here’s a selection of titles we already have in, for children and for adults, that celebrate diversity and give you some deeper information about systemic racism in the UK and beyond.

Take your pick from these or order in a title of your choosing…

• Racism: A Very Short Introduction by Ali Rattansi

  This explores the history of racial ideas and a wide range of racisms—biological, cultural, colourblind, and structural—and illuminates issues that have been the subject of recent debates. Is Islamophobia a form of racism? Is there a new antisemitism? Why has whiteness become an important source of debate? What is intersectionality? What is unconscious or implicit bias, and what is its importance in understanding racial discrimination? This VSI tackles these questions, and also shows why racism is an ongoing problem. Finally, it explains why there has been a resurgence of national populist and far-right movements and explores their implications for the future of racism.

• The Extraordinary Life Of Rosa Parks by Dr Sheila Kanani

  Rosa Parks, the woman known for refusing to give up her seat on the bus, triggered a great shift in the fight for civil rights. Raised in Alabama, Rosa Parks knew all about the racism of her society from an early age. Discover how she became the brilliant activist we know today, in this beautifully illustrated book with real-life stories, timelines and facts to bring her extraordinary story to life.

• A Black Woman Did That by Malaika Adero

  This book spotlights vibrant, inspiring black women whose accomplishments have changed the world for the better. It is a celebration of strong, resilient, innovative, and inspiring women of colour. With a vibrant mixture of photography, illustration, biography, and storytelling, author Malaika Adero highlights well-known historical figures and women who are pushing boundaries today—including Ida B. Wells, Madam CJ Walker, Shirley Chisholm, Serena Williams, Mae Jamison, Stacey Abrams, Jesmyn Ward, Ava DuVernay, and Amy Sherald.

  Readers will recognize some names in the book, but will also be introduced to many important black women who have changed history or who are reshaping the cultural landscape. Entries on each woman or group highlight their accomplishments, their world-changing words, and the ways in which their lives and actions have made the world a better place.
  Also includes a robust resource list of books, audio and visual recordings, and links, inviting readers, parents, and teachers to learn even more about the amazing black women featured in the book.

• Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto For Change by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ugunbiyi

  As a minority in a predominantly white institution, taking up space is an act of resistance. Recent Cambridge grads Chelsea and Ore experienced this first-hand, and wrote Taking Up Space as a guide and a manifesto for change.
  FOR BLACK GIRLS: Understand that your journey is unique. Use this book as a guide. Our wish for you is that you read this and feel empowered, comforted and validated in every emotion you experience, or decision that you make.

  FOR EVERYONE ELSE: We can only hope that reading this helps you to be a better friend, parent, sibling or teacher to black girls living through what we did. It's time we stepped away from seeing this as a problem that black people are charged with solving on their own.

  It's a collective effort. And everyone has a role to play.

• Mouth Full Of Blood by Toni Morrison

  A vital non-fiction collection from one of the most celebrated and revered American writers

  Spanning four decades, these essays, speeches and meditations interrogate the world around us. They are concerned with race, gender and globalisation. The sweep of American history and the current state of politics. The duty of the press and the role of the artist. Throughout Mouth Full of Blood our search for truth, moral integrity and expertise is met by Toni Morrison with controlled anger, elegance and literary excellence.

  Mouth Full of Blood is a powerful, erudite and essential gathering of ideas that speaks to us all. It celebrates Morrison’s extraordinary contribution to the literary world.

• The More We Get Together by Celeste Cortright and Betania Zacarias

  Set to the familiar tune of “The More We Get Together,” (audio and video included!) this book features children who work together to make their urban neighbourhood cleaner, friendlier, and safer for everyone. Includes end matter about recycling, activism, community gardens, teamwork and more.

• What Is A Refugee by Elise Gravel

  Who are refugees? Why are they called that word? Why do they need to leave their country?

  In this simple, graphic and bold picture book for young children, author/illustrator Elise Gravel explores what it means to be a refugee. This book is the perfect tool to introduce an important and timely topic to children.

• Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach For Everyone by Minna Salami

  In Sensuous Knowledge, Minna Salami draws on Africa-centric, feminist-first and artistic traditions to help us rediscover inclusive and invigorating ways of experiencing the world afresh. 

  Combining the playfulness of a storyteller with the insight of a social critic, the book pries apart the systems of power and privilege that have dominated ways of thinking for centuries – and which have led to so much division, prejudice and damage. And it puts forward a new, sensuous, approach to knowledge: one grounded in a host of global perspectives – from Black Feminism to personal narrative, pop culture to high art, Western philosophy to African mythology – together comprising a vision of hope for a fragmented world riven by crisis. 

  Through the prism of this new knowledge, Salami offers fresh insights into the key cultural issues that affect women’s lives. How are we to view Sisterhood, Motherhood or even Womanhood itself? What is Power and why do we conceive of Beauty? How does one achieve Liberation? She asks women to break free of the prison made by ingrained male-centric biases, and build a house themselves – a home that can nurture us all. 

Don’t forget, we can always order something in for you, if you have a specific title in mind!