Today, I am sharing my personal anti-racist reading list featuring books that I have read in undergrad and graduate school, and also ones that have been personally of interest to me. While I am not an expert, it is important to continuously practice allyship, and the books on this reading list help aid in that. I will also be including books that I have added to my personal reading list that I will read this year. I also hope you will continue to have crucial conversations and engage in the work so that we ensure lasting progress and change.
The Anti-Racist Reading List I’ve Been Building Since 2020 — Updated for 2026
My Personal Anti-Racist Reading List: What I Have Read
The books I previously listed as “still on my list” have now been read and moved here, and I stand by every one of them. The full “have read” list now includes:
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- The Black and the Blue by Matthew Horace
- Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
- Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson
- The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson
- The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad
- From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime by Elizabeth Hinton
- The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government, and Cheap Lives by Bryan Simon
- Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso by Kali Nicole Gross
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
- Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
My Personal Anti-Racist Reading List: What is Still on My List
- Beyond the Pale: White Women, Racism, and History by Vron Ware
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Emperor Has No Clothes: Teaching About Race and Racism to People Who Don’t Want to Know by Tema Okun
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- High on the Hog by Jessica B. Harris
- How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong
- One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson
- Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
- Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
- Subversive Southerner: Anne Braden and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Cold War South by Catherine Fosl
- They Can’t Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement by Wesley Lowery
- We Are All Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
A Note on Some Titles
It is worth acknowledging that a few books on the original list — particularly White Fragility — have faced meaningful scholarly criticism in the years since 2020, with some critics arguing that the framing centers white discomfort rather than Black liberation. I still think it is worth reading, and I encourage pairing it with critiques and with books that center Black perspectives more fully.
My Personal Anti-Racist Reading List: Fictional Titles
While the titles above are non-fiction, there are some fictional titles I either recommend or have on my reading list. The original list still stands — The Gilded Years, Little Fires Everywhere, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and The Bluest Eye are all still essential — and I added:
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- James by Percival Everett
- Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Final Thoughts
While this is a difficult and uncomfortable topic, systemic racism does not go away by ignoring it. Six years on from when I first published this list, the conversation has shifted, deepened, and in some spaces faced real pushback — which makes the reading more important, not less. I recognize my own continued room to grow, and I am grateful for every book that has challenged and expanded how I see the world. By understanding how deeply this is rooted, we can learn and use our privileges and platforms for a force of good, while being an ally to those who are not given the same space and voice.
P.S. Supporting Black-owned independent bookstores remains just as important in 2026 as it was in 2020. You can also check out your local public library for downloadable books!
What’s on your anti-racist reading list? Let me know in a comment below!
Shop this Anti-Racist Reading List
Thank you for sharing! This is a great list.