Anti-Racism Resources and the UW Libraries

Libraries are dedicated to the principles and practices of social justice, diversity, and equality among our staff, collections, and services. As part of the efforts to further and enable the opportunities for education, benefit the good of the public, and inform citizens, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries commit ourselves to doing our part to end the many forms of discrimination that plague our society.

At this time of overlapping crises that disproportionately affect Black people, the Libraries would like to reaffirm Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion in words and in actions. Libraries and library workers meet moments like these by building collections so that they are available for our community when the need arises. The UW-Madison Libraries have a large collection of materials about anti-racist theory and practice, a number of which are available electronically. Below are links to a selection of anti-racist works electronically available through the UW-Madison Libraries.

If you would like to suggest materials to be added to our collections, please complete our Request a Purchase form. If you would like assistance finding additional anti-racist resources, please Ask a Librarian. 

Please read our statement of solidarity.

Note: This list was compiled using Sarah Sophie Flicker and Alyssa Klein’s “Anti-Racism Resources for White People” and Victoria Alexander’s Anti-Racist Reading List, in addition to research by UW-Madison Librarians Raina Bloom, Heather Shimon, and Cynthia Bachhuber.

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9910100326302121
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9910543349502121
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin –https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912437761702121The Next American Revolution: 
• Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9910100412602121
• Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912628567002121
• Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9911036446302121
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912658562402121
• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912437669702121
• The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9911077498302121
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912478908902121
• A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912953522802121
• “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”: And Other Conversations about Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9911065411602121
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X – https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/9912437669302121

Articles

• The 1619 Project – https://search.library.wisc.edu/article/proquest2275075743
• Who Gets to Be Afraid in America by Ibram X. Kendi – https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/ahmaud-arbery/611539/
• Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus https://daily.jstor.org/institutionalized-racism-a-syllabus/?fbclid=IwAR1zl0lVx0vQaDjGMu2bDPtg23kJoZLb8JSpaywXN7wcuAI5WJiM0-EHdDo

Other UW-Madison Libraries Resources

• Black Lives Matter Movement: An Undergraduate Research Guide – https://researchguides.library.wisc.edu/c.php?g=640444&p=4539212