Inspired by Crystal Paul’s great post, “10 Books I Wish My White Teachers Had Read,” I would like to read and talk through these books with anyone who is interested. I’m dumping all this info here, as a way to organize things and remember that I want to do this. I have no idea if there will be much interest in this, but I’m hoping that this is something that we can do electronically and have a good online discussion of these texts. Friends, please join me!
If you are interested, please just comment below. Your email address won’t be publicly displayed, but it will ask you to enter it to comment, and then I can contact all interested parties!
I’ve made a list here, in the order that Paul lists them. Titles link to Amazon, and I’ve added some practical details (price and number of pages). Please let me know if you would like to join in — I’d like to knock maybe 2 or so out this summer (not necessarily in this order) and then try to work through the rest slowly and thoughtfully, as teaching/research/life schedules allow.
One last point — for those who can afford these books, I do think it’s worthwhile to buy them and support the authors doing this work. That said, if cost will prevent you from reading these books and a library copy isn’t readily available, we can certainly circulate copies and have a sort of staggered reading/discussing situation.
1. For White Folks Who Teach In the Hood … and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Christopher Emdin
- $17.64 new, 232 pages
2. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris
- $14.66 new, 256 pages
3. Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-first Century by Monique Morris
- $10.45 new, 240 pages
4. Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- $10.69 new, 176 pages
5. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
- $12.88 new, 336 pages
6. The Mis-Education of the Negro by Dr. Carter G. Woodson
- $9.95 new, 144 pages
- Also available online at History is a Weapon.
7. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer
- $9.99 new, 288 pages
8. The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
- $13.95 new, 224 pages
9. The Sisters Are Alright: Changing the Broken Narrative of Black Women in America by Tamara Winfrey-Harris
- $12.84 new, 160 pages
10. The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein
- $12.92 new, 384 pages
Hey Amy,
I’ve read 4 and 5 recently (maternity leave reading list) and the others look interesting, so please count me in.
-Laura
Thanks for setting this up, Amy! I love this plan and I’m happy to read in the order they are given here. I think it would be fun to have a planned/scheduled Google Hangout chat for each one and anyone who has finished (or started) the book can join in to that live conversation.
Yes, please. And I love, in particular, your pacing. Happy with whatever order suits the group.
Would love to join y’all if I’m not too late!