Race and Civil Rights
10 books
By Trevor Noah
A memoir about growing up in South Africa by the comedian, now the host of “The Daily Show,” whose birth was the result of an illegal (under apartheid) relationship between a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother.
By Margot Lee Shetterly
The story, based in part on interviews, of the black women mathematicians who were hired as “computers” by the precursor of NASA during World War II. The basis of the forthcoming movie.
By Ta-Nehisi Coates
A meditation on race in America as well as a personal story by the national correspondent of The Atlantic, framed as a letter to his teenage son. Winner of the National Book Award.
By Michelle Alexander
A law professor takes aim at the “war on drugs” and its impact on black men.
By Bryan Stevenson
A law professor and MacArthur grant recipient's memoir of his decades of work to free innocent people condemned to death.
By John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
All three volumes of Representative John Lewis's memoir of the civil rights movement are collected here.
By John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
Representative John Lewis of Georgia describes his childhood and the beginning of his involvement in the civil rights movement. The first volume of a trilogy.
By Issa Rae
Humorous essays on what it is like to be awkward in a world that glorifies cool.
By Phoebe Robinson
Essays by a stand-up comic on topics like race, gender, dating and feminism.
By Ibram X Kendi
The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.