The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police has caused a national outcry. Not only is our nation forced to confront racial disparities in policing, but also generations of systemic racism against people of color.
Reading can provide different perspectives and promote understanding, which are crucial as America searches for new approaches and solutions. AAPLD is proud to partner with our patrons as they explore the issues of racial inequality, criminal justice, education, as well as the lives and works of Black authors and historical figures.
We’ve compiled a list of ebooks and audiobooks that are available through our virtual library collections. Click the links to learn more about each title, and download them to your device. (Not sure how? Find instructions on our Virtual Library page.) Selections with an asterisk are also part of our print collection, AAPLD cardholders can place them on hold for curbside pickup.
Our Youth Services department has also compiled a list of anti-racism reads for children. Access that list here.
Try these historical accounts, memoirs, poetry and social commentaries, available in digital and/or audiobook:
Available instantly on Hoopla:
- Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi*
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
- So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo
- When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors*
Available digitally through Overdrive:
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo*
- How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi*
- Me and white supremacy by Layla F. Saad*
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X*
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates*
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson*
- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson*
- They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery*
- Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum
- For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange*
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou*
- The Fire This Time by Jesmyn Ward*
- Native Son by Richard Wright*
Prefer fiction?
- The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead*
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead*
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward*
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison*
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale-Hurston*
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison*
- Go Tell It On The Mountain by James Baldwin*
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas*
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone*
- Monster by Walter Dean Myers*