Racism in America: A Reader

With a Foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed

Racism in America: A Reader is an invitation to understand anti-Black racism through the eyes of our most incisive commentators. This anthology is for all curious readers, teachers, and students who wish to discover for themselves the complex and rewarding intellectual work that has sustained our national conversation on race and will continue to guide us in future years. The book can be downloaded for free here and on most eBook platforms.

For further reading, view our extensive collection of books on racism.

Featuring Contributions from the Following Critically-Acclaimed Works

Cover: Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, by Toni Morrison, from Harvard University Press

Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination
Toni Morrison

Cover: From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America, by Elizabeth Hinton, from Harvard University Press

From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America
Elizabeth Hinton

Cover: The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, With a New Preface, by Khalil Gibran Muhammad, from Harvard University Press

The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, With a New Preface
Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Cover: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, by Mehrsa Baradaran, from Harvard University Press

The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap
Mehrsa Baradaran

Cover: Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White, by William Sturkey, from Harvard University Press

Hattiesburg: An American City in Black and White
William Sturkey

Cover: Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, by Nicole R. Fleetwood, from Harvard University Press

Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration
Nicole R. Fleetwood

Cover: Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man, by Joshua Bennett, from Harvard University Press

Being Property Once Myself: Blackness and the End of Man
Joshua Bennett

Cover: The Fateful Triangle: Race, Ethnicity, Nation, by Stuart Hall, edited by Kobena Mercer, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., from Harvard University Press

The Fateful Triangle: Race, Ethnicity, Nation
Stuart Hall, edited by Kobena Mercer, with a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Cover: The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, by Anthony Abraham Jack, from Harvard University Press

The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students
Anthony Abraham Jack

Cover: The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas, by Monica Muñoz Martinez, from Harvard University Press

The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas
Monica Muñoz Martinez

Cover: The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America, by Beth Lew-Williams, from Harvard University Press

The Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America
Beth Lew-Williams

Cover: Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform, by Tommie Shelby, from Harvard University Press

Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform
Tommie Shelby

Cover: Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity, by Kwame Anthony Appiah, from Harvard University Press

Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity
Kwame Anthony Appiah

Cover: Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West, by Ned Blackhawk, from Harvard University Press

Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American West
Ned Blackhawk

Cover: Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century, by Tera W. Hunter, from Harvard University Press

Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century
Tera W. Hunter

Cover: Seeing Patients: A Surgeon’s Story of Race and Medical Bias, With a New Preface, by Augustus A. White III, MD, with David Chanoff, from Harvard University Press

Seeing Patients: A Surgeon’s Story of Race and Medical Bias, With a New Preface
Augustus A. White III, MD, with David Chanoff

Cover: Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America, by Vivek Bald, from Harvard University Press

Bengali Harlem and the Lost Histories of South Asian America
Vivek Bald

Cover: Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market, by Walter Johnson, from Harvard University Press

Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
Walter Johnson

Cover: Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I, by Adriane Lentz-Smith, from Harvard University Press

Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I
Adriane Lentz-Smith

Cover: Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching, by Crystal N. Feimster, from Harvard University Press

Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching
Crystal N. Feimster

Equity for Women in Science: Dismantling Systemic Barriers to Advancement, by Cassidy R. Sugimoto and Vincent Larivière, from Harvard University Press

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Racism in America: A Reader

With a Foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed

Featuring Contributions from the Following Critically-Acclaimed Works

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Black lives matter. Black voices matter. A statement from HUP »

From Our Blog