By Dustin Dwyer
Michigan Radio, NPR
Jul 2, 2020
Books about race continue to dominate best seller lists. Weeks after outrage spilled into the streets over the killing of George Floyd, readers – mostly white readers, it seems – are trying to learn more about the work of anti-racism. Clearly, as many have pointed out, reading alone is not enough.
But if reading books is going to be one way for people to start the work of becoming more conscious and active in anti-racism, one important question is what to read. The internet is full of suggestions. And yet, one Black-owned bookstore in Boston reported that, among 20,000 new orders for books about race, 75 percent were for the same 10 titles. And some of those titles are now out of print.
So if you want to go beyond that short list, here’s one idea to consider: Why not read local? Below, you’ll find a list of more than 30 authors with ties to Michigan who’ve written books about race. This list is by no means comprehensive, so if you have any other authors or titles to suggest, please drop us a note on social media, or email [email protected], and we’ll add your suggestion to the list.
Authors are listed alphabetically by last name.
Lisa Alexander
Associate Professor, Wayne State University
When Baseball Isn’t White, Straight, and Male: The Media and Difference in the National Pastime
Fred Arroyo
Professor, Middle Tennessee State University; Born in Three Rivers
Sown in Earth: Essays of Memory and Belonging
Michael Awkward
Professor, University of Michigan
Philadelphia Freedoms: Black American Trauma, Memory and Culture
April Baker-Bell
Associate professor, Michigan State University
Liguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy
Grace Lee Boggs
Legendary Detroit activist
[HEAR a remembrance of Grace Lee Boggs on Michigan Radio]
Living for Change: An Autobiography
Herb Boyd
Journalist and author; Grew up in Detroit; Graduated from Wayne State University[
Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination
Baldwin’s Harlem: A Biography of James Baldwin
Austin Channing Brown
Writer, speaker and producer from Michigan
[HEAR Austin Channing Brown on Same Same Different]
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Ruth Nicole Brown
Chairperson, African American and African Studies, Michigan State University
Hear Our Truths: The Creative Potential of Black Girlhood
Bridget M. Davis
Novelist; Professor, Baruch College, CUNY; Born in Detroit
The World Acccording to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers
Lane Demas
Professor, Central Michigan University
Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf
Integrating the Gridiron: Black Civil Rights and American College Football
Michael Eric Dyson
Author; Professor, Georgetown University; Born in Detroit
Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America
The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America
Larry and Sandy Feldman
Adjunct instructors, Lake Michigan College
Building Bridges Across the Racial Divide
Matthew L.M. Fletcher
Director, Indigenous Law and Policy Center, Michigan State University
HEAR Matthew L.M. Fletcher on Stateside
American Indian Education: Counternarratives in Racism, Struggle, and the Law
Lorna Goodison
Professor, University of Michigan; Poet Laureate of Jamaica
From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island
Gordon Henry
Professor, Michigan State University
Darlene Clark Hine
Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University
A Shining Thread of Hope: The History of Black Women in America (with Kathleen Thompson)
Hine Sight: Black Women and the Re-Construction of American History
Black Women in White: Racial Conflict and Cooperation in the Nursing Profession, 1890-1950
Aida Levy-Hussen
Associate Professor, University of Michigan
How to Read African American Literature: Post-Civil Rights Fiction and the Task of Interpretation
Randal Maurice Jelks
Professor, University of Kansas; From Grand Rapids
African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids
Willie Jennings
Associate Professor, Yale Divinity School; Born and raised in Grand Rapids
[HEAR an extended interview with Willie Jennings on Michigan Radio]
The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race
Su’Ad Abdul Khabeer
Associate Professor, University of Michigan
Muslim Cool: Race Religion and Hip Hop in the United States
Karen R. Lacy
Associate Professor, Central Michigan University
Blue-Chip Black: Race, Class, and Status in the New Black Middle Class
Scott Richard Lyons
Associate Professor, University of Michigan
X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent
Tiya Miles
Professor, Harvard University; Former professor, University of Michigan
[HEAR Tiya Miles on Stateside]
The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
The Cherokee Rose, a Novel of Gardens & Ghosts
Elvis Mitchell
Nationally-known film critic; Born in Highland Park, graduated from Wayne State University
Louis Moore
Associate Professsor, Grand Valley State University
We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete and the Quest for Equality
I Fight for a Living: Boxing and the Battle for Black Manhood, 1880-1915
Andre Perry
Brookings Institution Fellow; Founding Dean, College of Urban Education at Davenport University
[HEAR Andre Perry on Stateside]
Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities
Some of Us Are Very Hungry Now
Keewaydinoquay Peschel
Scholar, teacher, author, Anishinaabeg Elder of the Crane Clan; Born in Michigan
Keewaydinoquay, Stories from My Youth (Edited by Lee Boisvert)
David Pilgrim
Founder and Director of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University.
Understanding Jim Crow: Using Racist Memorabilia to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice
HEAR David Pilgrim on Stateside
Rochelle Riley
Director of Arts and Culture, city of Detroit; longtime Detroit Free Press columnist
[HEAR Rochelle Riley on Stateside]
The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery (edited by Rochelle Riley)
Todd E. Robinson
Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Earned PhD at University of Michigan
A City Within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids Michigan
Kimberly Springer
Curator, Oral History Archives at Columbia University; Former Michigan Radio social media director; From Grand Rapids
[HEAR Let’s Review, a podcast hosted by Kimberly Springer and Jenn White]
Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968-1980
Ruby Tapia
Associate Professor, University of Michigan
American Pietàs: Visions of Race, Death and the Maternal
Aisha Sabatini Sloan
Visiting professor, University of Michigan
Divya Victor
Associate professor, Michigan State University
Lewis Walker
Former professor, Chair of Sociology Department, Western Michigan University
African Americans in Michigan (with Benjamin C. Wilson)
Black Eden: The Idlewild Community (with Benjamin C. Wilson)
Benjamin C. Wilson
Former professor, Western Michigan University
African Americans in Michigan (with Lewis Walker)
Black Eden: The Idlewild Community (with Lewis Walker)
The Rural Black Heritage Between Chicago and Detroit, 1850-1929
Michael Witgen
Professor, Director of the Native American Studies Program, University of Michigan
[HEAR Michael Witgen on Michigan Radio]
An Infinity of Nations: How the Native New World Shaped Early North America
Frank H. Wu
Former Dean, Wayne State University School of Law
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White
Malcolm X
The autobiography of Malcolm X
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Check out David’s books:
Haste to Rise: A Remarkable Experience of Black Education during Jim Crow
Watermelons, Nooses, and Straight Razors: Stories from the Jim Crow Museum
Understanding Jim Crow: Using Racist Memorabilia to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice
