This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work

Literature, both fiction and non-fiction, is one of many ways for activists to teach others about the importance of anti-racism. Books can raise awareness of historical and contemporary realities of racism around the world. They can explain complex ideas, like the development of racial categories as social constructs, in straightforward terms. Many anti-racist texts provide concrete, actionable strategies for people to work toward dismantling personal and institutional racism. Anti-racist books can be written for any audience; some are aimed at people of color, some are aimed at white people, and some are aimed at certain age groups, like adults, teenagers, or children. This Book Is Anti-Racist is written for young people, but it is not written specifically for people of color or for white people. Instead, it focuses on how anti-racism can help everyone and how all people can become anti-racist activists. It is an introductory text that aims to explain the most important concepts in anti-racist discourse and activism in straightforward terms.

Some anti-racist books focus on the experiences of a particular group of people, like An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, which centers Indigenous perspectives in American history. The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E.