The Bethlehem Area Public Library is committed to actively supporting essential conversations and actions to confront racism in America.
This page will feature antiracist resources available in our collections, links to external resources, and information about library programs that promote antiracist conversation within our community and with our patrons.
In our collections
Antiracist reading
- Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
- How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (Author), Karen Chilton
- Tears we Cannot Stop, by Michael Eric Dyson
- We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta Nehisi Coates
- Between the World and Me by Ta Nehisi Coates
- White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
- Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Race Matters, 25th Anniversary by Cornel West
- The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, edited by Jesmyn Ward
- Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
- Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces by Radley Balko
- Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? by Mumia Abu-Jamal
- When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
- A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History by Jeanne Theoharis
- How We Fight White Supremacy by Akiba Solomon and Kenrya Rankin
- On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope by Deray McKesson
- Slavery By Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
- Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F Saad
Black authors, thinkers, and creators
“Reading Anti-Racist Nonfiction Is a Start. But Don’t Underestimate the Power of Black Fiction,” Jasmine Guillory, writing for Time Magazine
Films and documentaries
- I Am Not Your Negro, written by James Baldwin, dir. by Raoul Peck
- Moonlight, dir. by Barry Jenkins
- Within Our Gates, dir. by Oscar Micheaux
- Daughters of the Dust, dir. by Julie Dash
- Slavery By Another Name, dir. by Samuel D. Pollard
In the catalog
- Boycott, Directed by Clark Johnson
- Do the Right Thing, dir. by Spike Lee
- Fences, written by August Wilson, dir. by Denzel Washigton
- Fruitvale Station, dir. by Ryan Coogler
- Get Out, dir. by Jordan Peele
- If Beale Street Could Talk, dir. by Barry Jenkins
- Malcolm X, dir. by Spike Lee
- Selma, dir. by Ava DuVernay
Available via Inter-Library Loan (email interlibraryloan@bapl.org to request)
- Blackout, dir. by Jerry LaMothe
- Middle of Nowhere, dir. by Ava DuVernay
- Pariah, dir. by Dee Rees
Upcoming programs
Courageous Conversations: Stamped from the Beginning
- A 5-month discussion series on Tuesdays Sept 29, Oct 27, Dec 29 2020, and Jan 26 and Feb 23 2021, from 6:30-8:00 pm EST
- Register for each individual session online and receive Zoom information by email.
- Sign up for the January 26 session today!
Courageous Conversations at BAPL continues with Ibram X. Kendi’s book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. The intent is to digest, rethink, and formulate the insidiousness of a deep-rooted ideology: racism. How can we understand the present if we do not study past historical policies? Jefferson Davis, in 1860, stated on the floor of the U.S. Senate, “This Government was not founded by negroes nor for negroes, but by white men for white men.” How can we learn to become antiracist if we do not understand the cause and the effect it has on the nation?
We will, therefore, dissect the author’s book into a five-part series to understand the many complexities of racist ideas. Once we have deconstructed the psychological origins of racial issues that have plagued us for decades, our next step is to ask, “Where do we go from here?”
- Watch previous Courageous Conversations in the series on BAPL’s Facebook
Dialogues on Racial Justice: An Introductory Workshop Series on Issues of Systemic Racism in the United States
- A 4-week workshop covering how racism is constructed and maintained, historical contexts of systemic oppression and police brutality, and the progress towards equitable reform for restorative justice. Taught by Linda Wiggins-Chavis; thank you, Ms. Wiggins-Chavis!
- If you are interested in hearing more about this program or contacting Linda Wiggins-Chavis, please email Janine at jcarambot@bapl.org.
- Read about the first session, Race and Racism: The Construct of Race and How Racism is Maintained, in the Southsider
- Watch the third session, Police Brutality: A Historical Perspective, on BAPL’s YouTube channel
- Community suggested resources from Dialogues on Social Justice
- Slavery By Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon (nonfiction)
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
- The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein (nonfiction)
- Slavery By Another Name, dir. by Samuel D. Pollard (documentary)
- ‘The Strange Story Of The Man Behind Strange Fruit’
by Elizabeth Blair for NPR Morning Edition (2012) - ‘The Philadelphia Race Riot (1918)’
by Will Mack for Blackpast.org (2017) - ‘Race riots in Philadelphia during the 1919 Red Summer’
- ‘MOVE: Or When the Philly Police Dropped a Bomb on a Residential Neighborhood’
Stuff You Should Know podcast episode (2019) - ‘The Long Hot Summer’
NPR’s Throughline podcast episode (2020) - Felony Disenfranchisement Laws Map
ACLU.org (accessed July 2020) - Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws PDF – State by State Breakdown
BrennanCenter.org (updated June 2020) - The Childhood Opportunity Gap Expanded Data Visualizations
Diversitydatakids.org (2019)
BAPL Virtual Film Club for July 2020: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Available to stream on Kanopy)
Read a review of The Last Black Man in San Francisco in The Southsider!
The Clearing: Movement towards Communities of Compassion
- A Dancing Mindfulness Gathering with Dr. Alisha Tatem. Thank you, Dr. Tatem, for leading this program!
- If you are interested in hearing more about this program or contacting Dr. Tatem, please email Janine at jcarambot@bapl.org.
Black Women Writers: Past and Present
- Presented in partnership with Lehigh University Dept. Of English and facilitated by Jo Grim and Shelby Carr
External links
- Full length films and other videos from PBS
- Bookshare reading lists
- Black Film history links
- UCLA Film and Television Archive
- Criterion Channel: Pioneers of African American Cinema
- NPR Podcast Special Series: African Americans in Film
- Film Quarterly
- National Museum of African American History & Culture: Film and Television
- The Guardian: “Black films matter – how African American cinema fought back against Hollywood”
- Film Forum: “BLACK WOMEN: Trailblazing African American Actresses & Images, 1920 – 2001”
- University of Maine Honors Thesis: “A Comparative Study of African American Representations in Film from Original to Remake as Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement”
- Articles & Podcasts – community suggested resources compiled during Dialogues on Social Justice
- ‘The Strange Story Of The Man Behind Strange Fruit’
by Elizabeth Blair for NPR Morning Edition (2012) - ‘The Philadelphia Race Riot (1918)’
by Will Mack for Blackpast.org (2017) - ‘Race riots in Philadelphia during the 1919 Red Summer’
- ‘MOVE: Or When the Philly Police Dropped a Bomb on a Residential Neighborhood’
Stuff You Should Know podcast episode (2019) - ‘The Long Hot Summer’
NPR’s Throughline podcast episode (2020) - Felony Disenfranchisement Laws Map
ACLU.org (accessed July 2020) - Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws PDF – State by State Breakdown
BrennanCenter.org (updated June 2020) - The Childhood Opportunity Gap Expanded Data Visualizations
Diversitydatakids.org (2019)
- ‘The Strange Story Of The Man Behind Strange Fruit’