We have gathered some resources to help you inform yourself and to help in talking to your children about race, ethnicity and racism. We will periodically edit this list and welcome your suggestions.
Books on Racism and Kids, Antiracism and Talking about Race
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race. Beverly Daniel Tatum.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. Robin J. DiAngelo.
Raising White Kids: Bringing up Children in A Racially Unjust America. Jennifer Harvey.
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Resmaa Menakem.
How to Be An Antiracist. Ibram X. Kendi.
Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural. Claudine Chiawei O’Hearn.
Real American. Julie Lythcott-Haims.
This Book Is Anti-racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work. Tiffany Jewell.
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Ibram X. Kendi. (Audiobook also available for free on Spotify.)
So You Want to Talk About Race? Ijeoma Oluo.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World and Become a Good Ancestor. Layla F. Saad.
Some Readings and Reading Lists on Race, Racism and Black American History
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. Isabel Wilkerson.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley.
The End of Policing. Alex Vitale. An excerpt containing a brief summary of the history of policing has been published here in Vice.
The 1619 Project. The project was released by the New York Times on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans being brought to the American colonies and consists of a collection of essays and creative pieces exploring the centrality of slavery and its legacy to American life, history and culture. There is an accompanying podcast listed below.
This List of Books, Films and Podcasts about Racism is a Start, Not a Panacea. An NPR-compiled list of books, films and podcasts on systemic racism, along with critical commentary about the limits of such lists. The highlighted works focus on a range of topics from housing discrimination to mass incarceration to healthcare.
The Anti-Racist Reading List: 38 books for those open to changing themselves, and their world. Ibram X. Kendi. An article listing a range of books by category, including memoirs, essays and non-fiction. The books are also listed on the Chicago Public Library site.
NYPL Schomburg Center Black Liberation Reading List. Description: In response to the uprisings across the globe demanding justice for Black lives, the Schomburg Center has created a Black Liberation Reading List. The 95 titles on the list represent books we and the public turn to regularly as activists, students, archivists, and curators, with a particular focus on books by Black authors and those whose papers we steward. (Most of the books are available for free digitally via the NYPL e-reader app.)
What is an Anti-Racist Reading List For? Lauren Michele Jackson. An article critiquing anti-racist reading lists.
Picture Books for Children
Lovely. Jess Hong. (Preschool - 2) "Big, small, curly, straight, loud, quiet, smooth, wrinkly. Lovely explores a world of differences that all add up to the same thing: we are all lovely!”
The Day You Begin. Jacqueline Woodson. (K- 2) There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you. There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look, talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it.
Everywhere Babies. Susan Meyers. (Preschool) A simple and wonderful preschool book showcasing a diverse and inclusive view of babies being babies.
All the Colors We Are. Katie Kissinger. (PreK - 2) Explains, in simple terms, the reasons for skin color, how it is determined by heredity, and how various environmental factors affect it.
Happy in Our Skin. Fran Manushkin. (Pre - K) Depicts families of different colors and orientations as they play at a park, swim, and celebrate at a block party.
A Friend for Henry. Jenn Bailey. (Pre - 1) A story from the perspective of a boy on the autism spectrum who celebrates the everyday magic of finding a first friend. Shows cross-race friendships.
Sam & Eva. Debbie Ridpath Ohi. (Pre - 2) This simple story celebrates creativity and cooperation in this story of two young artists, Sam and Eva, who don't see eye to eye. Shows cross-race friendship.
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match/Marisol McDonald No Combina. Monica Brown. (Pre-3) Try as she might, in a world where everyone tries to put this biracial, Peruvian-Scottish-American girl into a box, Marisol McDonald doesn't match. And that's just fine with her.
Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice. Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, Ann Hazzard. (Pre - 2) After discussing the police shooting of a local Black man with their families, Emma and Josh know how to treat a new student who looks and speaks differently than his classmates. Includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers that provides general guidance about addressing racism with children, child-friendly vocabulary definitions, and conversation guides.
- Online read aloud
- Additional book list and online resources
- Read aloud tips / discussion questions
Children’s books featuring kids of color being themselves. Because that’s enough.
20 Picture Books for 2020: Readings to Embrace Race, Find Solace & Do Good by Embrace Race.
Resources for Talking to Kids about Race and Racism
Association for Library Service to Children: Talking with Young Children (0-5) about Race (May 2018). This article is meant for librarians who serve youth, but is relevant to parents in how we can read and talk about race with our children.
We Stories: Developing Cross-Race Friendships Has Profound Benefits for All Children, and Books Can Help (September 2019). A post from We Stories, a St. Louis-based organization designed to engage white families in anti-racist in parenting.
Teaching for Change: Teaching Young Children about Race: A Guide for Parents and Teachers. Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olson Edwards.
Reading Picture Books with Children Through a Race-Conscious Lens. Sarah Hannah Gómez and Megan Dowd Lambert share expertise and experience on 1) how to guide children to and through picture books with positive racial representations; and 2) how to support children in resisting or reading against problematic, racist content. Option of viewing hour-long recorded conversation, flipping through slides and/or getting quick 3-page tipsheet.
How to Encourage Cross-Racial Friendships Among Children. The challenges we face as a country and as communities around racial equity and racial inequality won’t be solved simply by increasing the number of cross-racial friendships among children (and adults, for that matter), but it certainly would help! Professor Amber Williams researches the why and how of cross-race friendships among kids.
How Children Learn About Race. A close look at the childhood landscape of racial learning. Beyond what we say to them explicitly, what other factors shape what our children learn about race? How do differences in racial and class identities shape the ways children learn and are taught about race?
ABC’s of Social Justice: A Glossary of Working Language for Socially Conscious Conversation. A working glossary of all the language used in conversations regarding social justice, diversity, and allyship. In every context, the meaning of these words may change and evolve. This glossary and its definitions provide a starting point for engaging in open and honest conversation, and is a tool meant to build a shared language of understanding.
Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Aspect of Your Curriculum. Excerpt from the Second Edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olson Edwards. This is geared towards educators, but is helpful for understanding the hows and whys of anti-bias education.
How to Talk to Kids about Race. An instagram guide by @theconsciouskid.
Aha! Parenting Blog: Talking with Children about Racism, Police Brutality and Protests. A recent post from an LHNS resource.
Social Justice Summer Curriculum for Children of Color. By Chicana M(other)work.
Social Media Resources on Antiracist Education and Parenting
The Conscious Kid (@theconsciouskid). Parenting and Education through a Critical Race Lens. Diverse #OwnVoices Books. Black and Brown Owned. COVID-19 #RENTRELIEF For Families
Here Wee Read (@hereweeread). Diversity & Inclusion Expert: Helping you find diverse books, educational products and raise curious kids.
Britt Hawthorne (@britthawthorne). Anti-bias and antiracism educator.
Tiffany Jewell (@tiffanymjewell). Anti-bias and anti-racist educator.
Multimedia Resources for Adults and for Talking to Kids
1619 by The New York Times - This podcast series is part of a larger project by the NYT focused on exploring the centrality of slavery and its legacy to American life, history and culture. The podcasts are easily consumed and provide multiple entry points based on listener interest. There are episodes on our economic system, the birth of American music, healthcare and discrimination faced by black farmers.
Scene on Radio: Seeing White. Fourteen part audio documentary series addressing question of where the notion of whiteness comes from and what purpose it serves. Includes interviews with leading historians, academics and experts on race including Nell Irvin Painter, Ibram X. Kendi and Dorothy Roberts, among others.
Tim Wise - Talking white privilege and systemic oppression. Third Space with Jen Cort.
Code Switch. A podcast that covers race, ethnicity and culture, and how these intersecting topics play out in our lives and communities. Produced by journalists of color, Code Switch focuses on how people navigate through the different spaces of their lives, while providing in-depth and nuanced stories of culture, news and history. “Race and Identity, Remixed.
Webinar: How Do I Make Sure I’m Not Raising the Next Amy Cooper? From EmbraceRace. 57-minute recorded webinar with transcript and additional resources.
Webinar: “I [STILL] can’t breathe”: Supporting Kids of Color Amid Racialized Violence. From EmbraceRace. A 59-minute recorded webinar with transcript and additional resources.
The Integrated Schools Podcast: Raising White Kids with Jennifer Harvey. A 58-minute interview, transcript included.
Institutional Racism and Traumatic Stress with Dr. Alfiee. An episode of the Being Well Podcast with Dr. Rick Hanson, discussing the impact of institutional racism on mental health and the burdens facing youth in particular.
CNN/Sesame Street Racism Townhall. There are different segments, some of which are done with muppets and directed at young kids and some addressed to parents and/or older kids.
WNYC: Talking to White Kids about Race and Racism. This hour-long program is about talking to white kids about race and racism. It explores a variety of approaches for kids of different ages and includes perspectives from parents, racial justice experts and teens.
Some Resources on Equity and Integration in Schools
The Problem We All Live With. A 2015 two-part audio-series from This American Life and Nikole Hannah-Jones looking at desegregation as a path to equity in education.
Nice White Parents. A five part audio-series from NYT and Serial critically examining white parents’ relationship to public schools and the impact of white parents and their choices on school segregation and integration.