How We Prepared For Our Trips to Alabama - updated 2023
Recently, someone asked me how to learn more about racism and US history. Here are movies, books and links those joining me in Alabama considered as they prepared for this journey, many of which may have already read or seen:
Books
Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
Unexampled Courage by Richard Gergel
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson (also a movie)
Movies/PBS Series
PBS Reconstruction: America After the Civil War
The Hate U Give (also a novel)
Selma
http://blackbeltfound.org/
https://alabamanewscenter.com/2018/06/01/black-belt-community-foundation-is-an-alabama-bright-light-of-hope-healing/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjJKux7eaiA&feature=youtu.be
CBS five minutes with real footage and great quote “get off my shoulders and get to work”
New series from the Washington Post (You might need a subscription to listen)
Montgomery
Truth and Justice Initiative – EJI's Kiara Boone made several recommendations noted here:
Video on Montgomery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr_WdQwnj88
Video on From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum
"In addition to this video, you might also encourage the group to explore the resources at lynchinginamerica.eji.org. In addition to the Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror Report, the website also includes a short documentary about a family's journey to connect with the lynching of one of their relatives, audio interviews discussing the legacy of lynching, and an interactive map of the documented racial terror lynchings throughout the country. The curriculum on the site can be helpful as you all continue to reflect on the experiences at both sites.
We recently published Segregation in America, a new report and website that documents how millions of white Americans joined a mass movement of committed, unwavering, and often violent opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. EJI believes that understanding this mass opposition to racial equality, integration, and civil rights is central to confronting the continuing challenges of racial inequality today."
Other links:
Podcast of Ta Nehisi Coates reading Conduction
Bryan Stevenson's Commencement address to NYU Law School
42% of NY residents owned slaves, more than the South. NYC 2nd only to Charleston.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/arts/confronting-slavery-at-long-islands-oldest-estates.html
https://www.storybasedstrategy.org/ related to Kellogg Foundation's Truth Racial healing and Transformation Project
New Yorker story on Georgetown professor Asking the Right Questions