Social Justice Memoirs and Personal Stories
Let's work together for understanding and equality. Here are some memoirs that make the subject personal. All of the titles are also available digitally on Overdrive or Hoopla. Subscribe to this or other newsletters that bring book selections to your email inbox.
 
Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The author presents a history of racial discrimination in the United States and a narrative of his own personal experiences of contemporary race relations, offering possible resolutions for the future. Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Overdrive.
How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi

A best-selling author, National Book Award-winner and professor combines ethics, history, law and science with a personal narrative to describe how to move beyond the awareness of racism and contribute to making society just and equitable. Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Overdrive.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

A lyrical memoir by the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement urges readers to understand the movement's position of love, humanity and justice, challenging perspectives that have negatively labeled the movement's activists while calling for essential political changes. Co-written by the award-winning author of The Prisoner's Wife. The digital audiobook is also available through Hoopla.
Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
by Brittney C. Cooper

A leading young black feminist illuminates how organized anger, friendship and faith can be powerful sources of positive feminist change, explaining how targeted rage has shaped the careers of such African-American notables as Serena Williams, Beyoncé and Michelle Obama. Read the ebook through Overdrive or get the digital audiobook version on Hoopla.
Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race
by Debby Irving

"Honest to the point of cringe-worthiness, Waking Up White dives head-first into the uncomfortable world of racial privilege. In it, author Debby Irving opens up about her experiences living as a white woman and coming to terms with the fact she exists in a world that rewards her for her skin color and punished others for theirs. If you're still waiting for your "aha" moment, this could be the key." - (Bustle) Listen to the audiobook through Overdrive or Hoopla.
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor
by Layla F Saad

The host of the “Good Ancestor” podcast presents an updated and expanded edition of the Instagram challenge that launched a cultural movement about taking responsibility for first-person racism to stop unconsciously inflicting pain on others. Read the ebook on Hoopla or Overdrive. Hoopla also has the audiobook version.
Heavy: An American Memoir
by Kiese Laymon

An essayist and novelist explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse. Overdrive has the ebook and digital audiobook versions of this title.
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson

The executive director of a social advocacy group that has helped relieve condemned prisoners explains why justice and mercy must go hand-in-hand through the story of Walter McMillian, a man condemned to death row for a murder he didn't commit. Read the ebook or listen to the audiobook on Overdrive.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou

The critically acclaimed author and poet recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums. Listen to the audiobook or read the ebook on Overdrive.
Negroland: A Memoir
by Margo Jefferson

A highly personal meditation on race, sex and American culture by the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic traces her upbringing and education in upper-class African-American circles against a backdrop of the Civil Rights era and its contradictory aftermath. Overdrive has the ebook, while Hoopla has the audiobook version.
Seymour Library
176-178 Genesee St.
Auburn, New York 13021
(315) 252-2571
www.seymourlibrary.org/
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