Recommended Reads
The Half Has Never Been Told
Baptist makes the argument that slavery played an essential role in the development of American capitalism, and that enslavers and slave traders were entrepreneurs in a capitalist context. They used enslaved people not just as the economic engine for the production of cotton, the dominant global commodity of the time, but also as collateral to finance the economic development of the nation. The book combines personal narratives, historical data, and economic analysis to reveal the profound impact of slavery on the nation's economy and society.
Between the World And Me
A must-read open letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son, Samori, exploring the realities of being Black in America. Coates reflects on his own experiences with racism, identity, and the systemic oppression faced by Black individuals, while also addressing the broader implications of these issues in American society.
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Begin Again
Explores the life and works of James Baldwin, focusing on themes of racial inequality and America's historical failures to address these issues. Glaude argues that America has had two significant opportunities to "begin again" after the Civil War and the civil rights movement, and he calls for a third chance to confront systemic racism and create a truly multiracial democracy.
How the Word Is Passed
A collection of essays about several important monuments, historical sites, and landmarks that intersect with the transatlantic slave trade. Smith begins this tour in his hometown of New Orleans before traveling to the Monticello Plantation, the Whitney Plantation, Angola Prison, Blandford Cemetery, Galveston Island, New York City, and finally Gorée Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal. In each chapter, Smith unpacks how the location under discussion relates to the history of slavery in America; he also critically analyzes how that site chooses to portray its own history.
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Slavery By Another Name
Explores how, after the Civil War, many African Americans were forced back into labor through systems like convict leasing, which persisted until World War II. The work reveals that slavery did not truly end with emancipation, but instead transformed into new forms of exploitation and oppression. From the forced labor of prisoners, overwhelmingly African American men, through the convict lease system used by states, local governments, white farmers, and corporations after the American Civil War until World War II in the southern United States.
The New Jim Crow
The book highlights how policies, particularly the War on Drugs, have created a racial caste system that denies basic rights to millions, despite the formal end of Jim Crow laws. That the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, disproportionately affecting African Americans and other minorities through mass incarceration.
