NCW Libraries

"A true story of determination and groundbreaking achievement follows eighth grade African American spelling champion MacNolia Cox, who left Akron, Ohio, in 1936 to compete in the prestigious National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., only to be met with prejudice and discrimination."--|cProvided by publisher

Explores the often-contradictory role played by Black soldiers throughout American history. Established by Congress, the 14th Amendment of 1886 promised citizenship in exchange for enlistment, prompting many African American men to serve.

Following the aftermath of the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta, this film chronicles how the Asian American community came together to fight back against hate and explores the struggles and triumphs of AAPI communities.

"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him--most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear ... In [this book], Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings--moments when he discovered some new truth...

In her first book, “The Presidency in Black and White”, journalist April Ryan examined race in America through her experience as a White House reporter. In this book, she shifts the conversation from the White House to every home in America. “At Mama's Knee” looks at race and race relations through the lessons that mothers transmit to their children. As a single African American mother in Baltimore, Ryan has struggled with each gut wrenching,...

A pioneering scholar offers this new account of what systemic racism actually is, how it works and how we can fight back, revealing how hard-to-see systemic connections function to disproportionately contain, exploit and punish Black people and showing us how to create a more just America for us all.

"Seldom does a book have the impact of The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been the winner of numerous awards and has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It has been cited in judicial decisions, read in countless faith-based and secular book clubs, and adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads. Most important, it has inspired artists, philanthropists, policymakers, community leaders, and a...

"Kelley restores the Black working class to the center of the American story. Spanning two hundred years--from one of Kelley's earliest known ancestors, an enslaved blacksmith, to the essential workers of the Covid-19 pandemic--[this book] highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ... As her narrative...

"In THE WHITE BONUS, Tracie McMillan asks a provocative question about racism in America: When people of color are denied so much, what are white people given? And how much is it worth--not in amorphous privilege, but in dollars and cents? McMillan begins with three generations of her family, tracking their modest wealth to its roots: American policy that helped whites first. Simultaneously, she details the complexities of their advantage, exploring...