Recently, there has been a lot of conversation about Racism and how we as a society can do better to remove bias and barriers.
Over the last few weeks and months, I have recommended some of my favourite books that give the UK perspective to the conversation and enable people to learn about the different experiences based on being in the US or the UK.
Anti-Black racism happens everywhere in the World and it shows it’s head in spaces where there are conversations of colourism, education, identity and social mobility.
The books I have recommended below enable the reader to see things from different perspectives and to learn some of the histories that we aren’t taught in schools.
- Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race– by Reni Eddo-Lodge
- There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack – by Paul Gilroy
- Racism: A Critical Analysis – by Mike Cole
- War to Windrush: Black Women in Britain 1939 to 1948 – by Stephen Bourne
- Black and Gay in the UK – An Anthology
- The Colour of Class: The educational strategies of the Black middle classes – by Dr Nicola Rollock et el
- BRIT(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging – by Afua Hirsch
- Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War – by Stephen Bourne
- Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire – by Akala
- Black, Listed: Black British Culture Explored – by Jeffrey Boakye
All of these books explore black identity and the way it intersects with gender, sexuality, disability and social mobility. Reading these and many other books will provide an insight that you might not normally have and a depth of history on the impact Black people have had in the UK over the years.
Enjoy!