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As Americans continue protesting systemic racism and police brutality following the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others, people are also seeking ways to educate themselves.

There are endless resources about the racial discrimination that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) face on a daily basis. This list is just a start. Thanks to the powerful voices of legendary writers like James Baldwin and Toni Morrison, and relatively new authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Layla F. Saad, you can become a better ally in the pursuit of equality among all races.

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If You Want a Classic (Memoir)

$22.95

One of the most iconic memoirs in history, I Know Why the Caged Bird Singswill take you through a range of emotionsjoy, pain, heartacheby way of Maya Angelou's childhood. As she is sent to live with her stern grandmother in Arkansas, then back with her mother in St. Louis only to be attacked by an older man, Angelou discovers freedom through the words of famous authors years before she'd eventually join their ranks.

If You Want a Classic (Essay)

$13.95

A bestseller when it was published in 1963 and a classic today,The Fire Next Timeis essentially two letters written on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Its unparalleled prose calls on people of all ethnicities to fight against America's ugly history of racism. Ta-Nehisi Coates says it's: "the finest essay Ive ever read.He was both direct and beautiful all at once. He did not seem to write to convince you. He wrote beyond you.

Learn About a Human Rights Legend

Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, Malcom X went onto become an American Muslim minister and human rights activist. Written by Alex Haley, who dedicated his career to documenting the African American struggle, The Autobiography of Malcolm X"stands as the definitive statement of a movement and a man whose work was never completed but whose message is timeless."

Gear Up to Speak Up

$16.00

Why do white people shut down when race is on the table?In this New York Times bestseller, Robin DiAngelo artfully explains why racism isn't just limited to, in the words ofClaudia Rankine, "bad people."If you're ready to let down your walls and enter into constructive dialogues around race, this starting point will set you on the path toward true personal growth.

If You Want to Be Antiracist

$27.00

In this bestseller, National Book Award-winnerIbram X. Kendi mixes history, science, and law with his own experience learning what antiracism really means.Kendi "takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideasfrom the most basic concepts to visionary possibilitiesthat will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves,"according to the publisher.

If You Want More From Kendi

Before he wroteHow to Be an Antiracist, Kenditurned heads in the literary worldand won a National Book Awardwith Stamped From the Beginning, where he challenges the idea that we could possibly live in a post-racial society.With a focus on five influential people in history, including Thomas Jefferson and W.E.B. Du Bois, Kendi explains how racism was created to rationalize discriminatory polices. By emphasizing how racial bias is subtly and overtlyembedded in our culture, Kendi proves that racism is alive and well in the 21st century.

If You Want Language Tools

How do you tell your roommate her jokes are racist? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?These questionsand many moreare answered in Ijeoma Oluo's New York Times bestselling book, So You Want to Talk About Race. As the National Book Review says, "Oluo gives usboth white people and people of colorthat language to engage in clear, constructive, and confident dialogue with each other about how to deal with racial prejudices and biases."

If You Want Personal Growth

$23.39

Layla F. Saad's New York Times bestselling book started with an Instagram chellenge:#meandwhitesupremacy, which encouraged people to own their racist behaviors in the name of personal growth. It went viral, motivating nearly 100,000 people to download Saad's Me and White Supremacy workbook. Her book is an updated version with more detailed context and resources to create lasting change.

If You Want Education Via Fiction

Toni Morrison's Home earned her the Nobel Prize in Literature, arguably the highest honor an author can hope to receive. The publisher calls Morrison's protagonist, Frank Money, a modern Odysseusas he escapes his small town by joining the army, only to return to the South in search of his sister, encounteringplenty of pitfalls along the way. While Morrison's depiction of 1950s America was conceived in her mind, she paints a vivid picture of what the Black experience was back thenand in some cases, even now.

If You Want Reporting and Prose

$11.99

In a revolutionary work that Toni Morrison called "required reading,"Ta-Nehisi Coastes addresses two essential questions:What is it like to inhabit a Black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? In a letter to his teenage son, Coates answers these questions and more through personal experiences and stellar reporting.

Deep-Dive Into Racial Segregation

If you want to dive into a specific issue within the wide spectrum of racial injustice in America, The Color of Lawbrims with awards as "the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation." Bill Gates even named it as one of eight "amazing"books in 2017. Other outlets have called it "masterful" and "essential."

If You Want More From Morrison

In Toni Morrison's first novel, the Nobel Prize winnerwrites powerfully abouta young Black girl who prays every day for beauty, wanting nothing more than to wake up with blonde hair and blue eyes. It'sa "powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity"that will break your heart and open your mind.

If You Admire Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama takes the reader through life moments big and small in Becomingstarting with her childhood on the Southside of Chicago and all the way to the White House as First Lady. In this #1 New York Times bestseller, which has since been adapted into a popular Netflix documentary, readers will see through deeply personal accounts how she became one of the most admired women in the world.

Another Woman You'll Admire

One of the most prominent modern voices to emerge in feminist literature,Brittney Cooper masterfully proves that while"Black womens anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force,"Black women not onlyhave a right to be angrybut can channel their emotions into a force for good. She uses superstars like Beyonce and Michelle Obama as examples, and MSNBC's Joy Reid calls it "adissertation on black womens pain and possibility."

If You're a Christian

$25.00

When Austin Channing Brown was seven years old, she learned why she got her name:her parents wanted future employers to mistake her for a white man. And thus began her journey through a racialized world. Growing up both Black and Christian, Brown shares through her own experience how the promises even well-meaning institutions make around equality can often fall short. Her goal is for all of us to practice what we preach.

Deep-Dive Into Criminal Justice

Author Walter McMillian, who is now the director of theEqual Justice Initiative, started out as a lawyer.Just Mercy is the truestory of one of his first clients,Walter McMillian, "a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didnt commit." Named one of the most influential books of the decade by CNN, it's a powerful account of the disturbing bias that exists within the criminal justice system.

If You Want a Law School Essential

Written by civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander,The New Jim Crow "spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations" that were inspired by her core thesis:"We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it. It has spent more than 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, helped inspire the Marshall Project, and earned numerous prizes.

If You Want to Raise White Allies

It's hard to talk to children about racial discrimination.Author Jennifer Harvey aims to make it easier in Raising White Kids. Whether you're a parent, teacher, church leader, or community group organizer, this handbook "offers age-appropriate insights for teaching children how to address racism when they encounter it and tackles tough questions about how to help white kids be mindful of racial relations while understanding their own identity and the role they can play for justice."

Deep-Dive Into Class and Race

Over in the U.K., most of the conversations around race were led by white people. That's not the way it's supposed to work!Which is why Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race. An extension of a blog post that went viral with so many people eager to share their own experiences, this book takes on"issues from eradicated Black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race."

If You Still Need Examples of White Privilege

If you want to see what it looks like when someone really owns their white privilege, look no further than Tim Wise (but actually, start here and then keep looking further). Here, he "examines what it really means to be white in a nation created to benefit people who are 'white like him.' You'll walk away with a better understanding of how non-BIPOCs can aid in the essential work of racial equality.

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20 Best Anti-Racism Books to Read Right Now - Prevention.com