Book Launch at the Birmingham Public library in June 2019. We discussed mental health and historical trauma and how best to lead a book group

White Fragility

Robin DiAngelo

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’ (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Ida: A Sword Among Lions and the Campaign Against Lynching

Paula Giddings

From a thinker who Maya Angelou has praised for shining “a brilliant light on the lives of women left in the shadow of history,” comes the definitive biography of Ida B. Wells—crusading journalist and pioneer in the fight for women’s suffrage and against segregation and lynchings

Just Mercy

Bryan Stevenson

From the Founder and Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy tells the story of EJI and current issues of civil and legal injustices. Pick this book if you’re interested in learning about the legacies of racial violence in our criminal justice system.

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

James H. Cone

Theologian James H. Cone explores connections between the symbols of the cross and lynching tree. He examines black history and Christian theology to explain how life can be meaningful in the face of injustice. Choose this book if you’re interested in religions connections to remembrance or for your congregations book club or home group.